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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2013-08-31 20:02:04

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2713
Website

The whole sink and die in the wool

In a conversation yesterday with a relative, I harvested:

[re a project that suffered from an insistence that piecemeal publication not be permitted:] it had to be the whole sink. And so, it sunk.

and

[there are no more human resources being assigned to the project, so] it’s going to die in the wool.

The first presumably is a sort of blend of idioms like the whole shebang/ball of wax/nine yards/etc. with “everything and/including the kitchen sink”, with the add(l)ed (and totally unconscious, I think) addition of converting sink into a past tense verb (with the less common strong preterite form sunk for sank ). The second is a kind of blend of “die on the vine” with “dye(d) in the wool”, but in many ways is more of a phrase-level malapropism than a normal, semantically motivated blend. (At least, I get no clear meaning connection from “dyed in the wool” to the intended meaning, presumably something like ‘wither and die’. The motivation seems to be only in the phonological/morphological similarities.)
.
This same person (a true goal mind, and one whom I greatly respect and listen to with care for other reasons than catching bloopers) was the author of:

That will certainly open up a bag of worms.

Don’t run off after the meeting, I want to chew your ear for a while.

You can just go through it like hot butter.

I’ll have to hang by my guns on that one.

Frequently … the central message gets “lost in the woods for the trees” [I’m pretty sure the quotes, which were original, meant “I’m quoting the proverb”, not “I’m quoting somebody else’s cute blooper.”]

[re a measure that will notably advance a project:] This will really make the buck fly … and once you actually get the buck flying you need its counterpart

Well, not enough rambling. Tell me what you are thinking, OK?

It just perveates all the presentations.

Here’s where we really start to put some grit on the dirt

There comes a point when you just can’t ring the nose much more.

I just keep hearing lots of little snidbits about what’s happening

It’s just a stab in the dark

With this program you get the whole shooting works [also, on another occasion, “the whole shootin’ kaboodle”]

Can I turn the shoes just a bit? [= look at it from a slightly different angle]

It’s important to know where the buck ends.

I think turning the shoes just a bit may be my favorite. Though dying in the wool …

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2013-08-31 20:08:14)


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#2 2013-09-03 07:10:19

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: The whole sink and die in the wool

I like perveates and snidbits.

You can just go through it like hot butter.

I adopted a scrawny stray kitten once. We called her Edna Xylophone, for the ribs. I let her stay in the kitchen overnight, with all the cupboards closed up tight. But I didn’t think about the block of butter on the counter. The next morning, floors, counters and table were festooned with perfect little round pats of recongealed cultured butter.

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#3 2016-01-26 11:13:10

Dixon Wragg
Eggcornista
From: Cotati, California
Registered: 2008-07-04
Posts: 1375

Re: The whole sink and die in the wool

Here’s one I just found while looking for something else:

Anyone who knows me will know that im a “die-in-the-wool” MG buff…
car discussion

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#4 2016-01-26 11:38:02

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: The whole sink and die in the wool

Well, not enough rambling. Tell me what you are thinking, OK?

Funny one! Great quotes.

Last edited by burred (2016-01-26 11:40:29)

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#5 2016-01-26 11:47:38

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: The whole sink and die in the wool

Return blender.

Our tour guide was just the nicest guy and was so easy to talk to. We got to see so many different things, with interesting tippets of information
Segway Norway

This time it’s a blend of snippet and tidbit and maybe tip.

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#6 2016-01-28 20:42:38

David Bird
Eggcornista
From: The Hammer, Ontario
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 1690

Re: The whole sink and die in the wool

News comment
You have got to be a dyed in the womb liberal.

Pinterest profile
I pin things that interest me, I am a true, proud, dyed-in-the-womb conservative.

A dyed-in-the-womb conservative… that would be a blue baby, I think.

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#7 2019-06-15 20:15:39

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2713
Website

Re: The whole sink and die in the wool

Revisiting an old thread: I didn’t include a probable influence from “it had to be the whole thing” on “it had to be the whole sink”. Seems likely to me now.


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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