mixed metaphor

"Now, Billy, what have you got up your sleeve?--I can see it in your eyes," Saxon demanded and indicted in mixed metaphors.

Close on two years ago, Cardiff Blues' Peter Thomas warned of impending problems in the area of pay-for-play in Wales, throwing in a wonderfully mixed metaphor to illustrate his point: "The car crash is about to happen and Rome is burning."

Fran Roberts, Coventry Wording It's stretching the bounds of credibility It's as shocking as electricity It's not like a house on fire Actually it's how things transpire Or a slap in the face nothing more Isn't this a real mixed metaphor ?

Merriam-Webster.com defines mixed metaphor as, "a figure of speech combining inconsistent or incongruous metaphors." However, this only tells half the story.

So congratulations to Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of the Tate Gallery, whose quotation in The Guardian (not for nothing is The Grauniad the media's patron saint of misprints) created in my experience this first known example of a triple mixed metaphor: "It marks a new chapter for the Tate but I also a great springboard from which other things will grow."

And if that last mixed metaphor jarred somewhat then the Duckworth Lewis Method might just be the band for you - for when it comes to phrasing the Irish group, based around the partnership of Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon and Pugwash man Thomas Walsh, rarely find themselves short of runs (or indeed puns).

Wiley ft Angel and Tinchy Stryder Lights On PICKING up masses of airplay, it may sound generic but, after all, Wiley is dubbed the godfather of grime (if that isn't too much of a mixed metaphor).

fo mwc Employing a marvellous mixed metaphor Mr Halfon, who has long suspected oil companies of conspiring to set pump prices, accused the OFT of carrying out a "limp-wristed lettuce leaf" of an inquiry.

Julius and the Watchmaker is firstly about the unfashionable idea of discipleship, about a boy growing under the wing of an older, more experienced man (if you will excuse the mixed metaphor).

The Swans took to the Premier League like ducks to water, r if you'll forgive the avian mixed metaphor. r They've got a two-year start over the Bluebirds, an intergalactico manager in Michael Laudrup, a settled Spanish-influenced way of playing and a trophy in the cabinet already.

I don't have the same optimism for that "great European Ideal".Excuse the mixed metaphor and allow me to say; you have not won a battle but placed another nail in the coffin of the European dream - shame on you!PD, Prastio