Is there a name for this?

Language Log has been quite prolific in introducing terms for speech oddities, including the eggcorn and the snowclone. The former, in particular, came about due to the fact that the phenomenon being described didn't fit into existing categories, like spoonerisms, malapropisms, or mondegreens.

But here's one I haven't seen a label for.

We're all familiar with the template (perhaps not quite a snowclone) "it's not X", where X is meant to be something difficult. "It's not rocket science" gets about 20k Google hits. "It's not brain surgery" gets about 3.5k. Just for kicks, I also tried "it's not nuclear physics", which gets only 63 hits, so it's not in common usage. The first two seem to be accepted idioms, though, as SC has both heard them used, and has documented here that there are plenty of instances of their use on the Web. This brings us to a case where they get blended:

"rocket surgery"

I don't have a name for this. I can't think of another example like it. Reader submissions are highly encouraged (both for names and examples).

Comments

[Virge]

The example that immediately springs to mind is the hybridisation of expressions like "is the Pope a Catholic?", "does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?" and "does the bear shit in the woods?" to produce amusing, but still easily recognisable substitutes.

[Semantic Compositions]

So there are people out there saying things like "is the bear Catholic"? I can't say I've heard something like that before, but crossing those three phrases certainly does produce some amusing results.

[Virge]

"does the pope shit in the woods" gets 1680 google hits. There are 100+ hits on censored versions (crap, poop, poo, s*) and abbreviated forms ("pope shit in the woods", "does the pope shit"). I found less than 100 instances of "is the bear [a] Catholic" phrases and drew a blank on most of the other combinations, although I have heard them used in casual conversation.

As for a name, I thought "mixomeiosis" sounded interesting. Inclusion of "meiosis" in the name may be premature. It may stop us recognising non-hyperbolic template expressions that have been crossed.

[Neal Whitman]

I think someone on LanguageLog referred to this kind of thing as "syntactic mixing," or something like that. I've noticed a few cases, too, and even wonder if it's a regular phenomenon when you have two similar idioms. The one I remember from my English teacher in 1984: "from day go"-- a fusing of "from day one" and "from the word go". It also sometimes seems to happens at the word level; the main example I remember is "trephanation," a cross between "trepanation" and "trephining."

[dan]

What about "blurche" - ie a blurred cliche.

[dan]

Or "bearpope".

[JR]

We always called them malaprop proverbs.

http://www.schtick.net/2003/5/16proverb.htm

It's a blessing in the sky.

We'll burn that bridge when we come to it.

etc.

[Derek K. Miller]

Those would be malapropisms if they're unintentional, but what if they're done on purpose? There's an ironic component that differs from a "malaproverb." By the way, "It's not rocket surgery" is web usability guru Steve Krug's catchphrase:

http://www.sensible.com/

[Tim Smith]

Amy Kuney has a song called "Rocket Surgery" on her album "Bird's Eye View." You can find it on YouTube, too.

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We're all familiar with the template (perhaps not quite a snowclone) "it's not X", where X is meant to be something difficult. "It's not rocket science" gets about 20k Google hits. "It's not brain surgery" gets about 3.5k. Just for kicks, I also tried "it's not nuclear physics", which gets only 63 hits, so it's not in common usage. The first two seem to be accepted idioms, though, as SC has both heard them used, and has documented here that there are plenty of instances of their use on the Web. This brings us to a case where they get blended.

[mr big dicks hot chicks]

Language Log has been quite prolific in introducing terms for speech oddities, including the eggcorn and the snowclone. The former, in particular, came about due to the fact that the phenomenon being described didn't fit into existing categories, like spoonerisms, malapropisms, or mondegreens.

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