Sunday 8 August 2010

Mixed Metaphors Part Two

Glacier is tip of iceberg

"It's a poisoned chalice. If you open it, where do you draw the line?" John Mottram, commentating on the World Cup June 2010, confusing the chalice from the palace, Pandora’s box, and a map showing the borders of Luxembourg.

Glacier collapse in Greenland may be tip of iceberg, literally, destroying W European climate. @SandrewDKos Well, no, it’s the tip of a glacier. It may be metaphorically the tip of the iceberg, but that’s a too-appropriate metaphor.

Goldman Sachs, Fabrice Tourre and the complex Abacus of toxic mortgages Apr 16 Daily Telegraph 2010

Plankton are the cog at the bottom of the food chain that keeps the whole machine going. Gordon Buchanan, Springwatch BBC2 May 20, 2010

Spanish border toll rocks the thaw on Gibraltar/The measure appears to be designed to undermine a dramatic thaw in relations... OK, so they wanted “rock” in the headline. But you can only slow or reverse a thaw. And you certainly can’t undermine it. Times July 21, 2010

They held a smoking gun to my head!

Unleashing a slow relentless stranglehold on our planet… Eden

More mixed metaphors and garbled cliches here, here, here and here.

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