A Better Mix Up

“And he made a 360-degree turn!” Father Joe paused while his congregation digested the parable’s message. A sinner, the main character, realized the errors of his ways and dramatically changed his life. 

I thought about the parable. I pondered Father Joe’s conclusion. A circle consisted of 360-degrees. If the sinner made a 360-degree turn he ended up in the same place he started. Father Joe meant to say “a 180-degree turn.” That idiom meant a complete change since physically turning 180 degrees caused the turner to face in the opposite direction. 

Idioms, maxims, metaphors grounded in common beliefs and recognized by the populace offered short cut summaries of situations and conversation sparks. 

Then There Are Malaphors . . .  

According to Wiktionary, a malaphor was a mistake (that’s the mal part) of combining two figures of speech and ending up with nonsense. An example from Richard Lederer’ book Anguished English illustrated the nonsense part:

“It’s as easy as falling off a piece of cake” combined “It’s as easy as falling off a log” (which was true since logs were generally low to the ground), and “It’s a piece of cake.” (The ease of baking a cake depended on the cake. A Pillsbury box cake? Sure! Aunt Frieda’s homemade German Chocolate cake? Not so much.)

However, “Falling off a piece of cake” wasn’t at all effortless. First, a cake sturdy enough to accommodate your weight needed to be procured. Then, after scaling it and screwing up the courage to leap, you risked a twisted ankle.

Then There Are Benephors . . .

Since I’m committed to silliness, (I offer my blog, “Squeaks Says” which is cowritten with my rescue cockatiel, Squeaky Pie, as testament to my support of ridiculousness.) I propose a new category of figurative language – benephors.

A benephor is a purposeful combining of two figures of speech and ending up with a meaningful, true expression. It’s a malaphor taking a 180-degree turn. 

Saved By Another Day

Proclaim this benephor when you forget to haul your recycling to the curb for pick up on Friday, then realize the recycling truck was delayed a day because of a holiday.

This benephor combines a boxing expression (Saved by the bell) with Scarlett O’Hara’s pragmatism (Tomorrow is another day).

Love Is A Can Of Worms

The Hallmark Channel might snag this benephor as a movie title, and you might think it when your SO (Significant Other) leaves his socks in the living room and dirty dishes on the counter. The ensuing sock and dirty dish discussion may reveal his annoyance of your bicycle parked too close to his drill and whether or not TWO kayaks AND a paddle board warrant the limited garage space.

Fishing preparations (Opening a can of worms) blends with romance (Love is blind) resulting in a benephor that describes that loved ones need to sort out their differences.

We’ll Cross That Bridge When The Heart Grows Fonder.

This calming benephor repositions you to the present when you are thinking Will we move in together? early in a relationship. 

Journey advice (We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it) mergers with appreciating what we have (Absence makes the heart grow fonder) creating sound advice to tend to the current connection.

Everyday Epiphany

In retrospect a “360-degree turn” resulting in ending back at the starting point, may not be all that bad. It allows for another beginning. Incorporating an enduring change into your life takes as many beginnings as it’s going to take. 

There must be a benephor for that!

Check out my book, OPERATION HOPPER.

Read about malaphors.