Mostly Ordinary Things

SKID-TALKER

Jul 15, 2023 by Rodger W. Minatra, in Humor

Many years ago in a Readers Digest publication called Word Power (1980), I came across an article called Are You a Skid-Talker, by Corey Ford. I've managed to keep it for all these years. I may be confusing this with mixed metaphores, but I like the term Skid-talk better. Corey Ford says, "Skid-talk is more than a slip of the tongue, it's a slip of the whole mind. In effect, it puts one idea on top of another, producing a sort of mental double exposure..." He tells us that the insidious thing about skid-talk is that "you're never quite sure you've heard it." He also says that "the best skid-talk fuses two thoughts together, creating a new shortcut which speeds up the language." I've got a lot of mileage out of this article, and I've kept the book handy so I could record other phrases that are humorous. Below is a list of those I pulled from the article and some that I've collected on my own. 

Here are a few from the Readers Digest Article (p. 22).
"You can't blame me for making a mistake. After all, none of us are human."
"I may be wrong, but I'm not far from it."
"I hope it goes over with a crash."
"It's a great picture, don't miss it if you can."
"If George Washington were alive today, he'd turn over in his grave."
"For your information, let me ask you a question."
There are  "too many cooks in the soup."
"From Time immoral."
"There I was, left holding the jackpot."
"It was so dark you couldn't see your face in front of you."
"He tells me something one morning and out the other."
"I'm a split personality all in one."
"Two can live as cheaply as one, but it costs them twice as much."
"Isn't it pretty, the lake comes righ up to the shore."
"I went to a wonderful party, everyone in the room was there."
"Darling, that was the best dinner I ever put in my whole mouth."
"I never liked you, and I always will."
"You're old enough to be my daughter."
"Don't make so much noise, this is not the only house we're in."
"We miss you almost as much a if you were here."

Of course, I cannot talk about skid-talk without thinking of Yogi Berra. Here are a few I pulled from the internet.

"Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."
"You can observe a lot by watching."
"If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be."
"No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

Here are a few I've collected:
Don't count your penneys before they hatch.
You hit the nose on the head.
Little britches have big ears.
Your breath would stop a three legged goat.
Biting off your nose to spite your face.

I know there are many more that I've missed, but I can't leave out the one I love the most. It is an original from my wife. 
"No matter how you slice it, it is still a can of worms."