A mixed metaphor is when someone likens a certain situation to two very different other situations within the same comment - plenty of classic authors have done same quite deliberately and effectively - dunno what peeps gets so concerned about, bloody thought police is everywhere these days - think they must breed faster than the rest of us 
Courtesy and Respect
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That said, "chafing at the bit" did bother me a little, since it doesn't make much sense. The classic metaphor is of course "champing at the bit," but "chomping at the bit" makes sense too, and is probably more common.
I have noticed that the worst chess players are often the most unsportsmanlike: I don't remember having been cursed out by even a much better player for winning. I have, as I'm sure we all have, received the juevenile, scatological, and basely anatomical attacks of defeated idiots.(Seperating words with sapces makes them no less offensive)
Disenfranchado wrote:
I have noticed that the worst chess players are often the most unsportsmanlike: I don't remember having been cursed out by even a much better player for winning. I have, as I'm sure we all have, received the juevenile, scatological, and basely anatomical attacks of defeated idiots.(Seperating words with sapces makes them no less offensive)
Players of this ilk usually have 10 minutes in the game and no reputation to uphold.
Apr 27, 2010
0
#86
HA! I haven't heard this argument in a long time. Back in grad school there were two fellow grad students who argued again and again over which of those horse bit phrases was "correct". Of course, each of them was absolutely convinced the other was wrong.
People always think the first version they ever heard must be right. I once taught an beginner's internet workshop for senior citizens, and at the start of one of the classes I overheard a woman talking to another attendee about a poem she recalled from her youth, but she could never remember the full version. Well, the poem was "Barnacle Bill" (sometimes called Bollicky Bill), which has a very long history as a sailors' drinking song, and has probably been learned and sung 1000 different ways, each bawdier and more risque than the next, in hundreds of ports over the centuries. So I used that as a starting example of how quickly you can find info on the Net, and within a minute or two we had several different verse versions.
Well, it turned out that the version this lady had learned as a youth was the one version on the entire planet that was absolutely G-rated and clean. She was appalled at the normal versions, and pronounced them all fakes. She was absolutely convinced the way she learned the poem was the "right" way. There was no room at all in her mind for the concept that versions might actually be different in different places.
--Cystem 
You should try posting the filthiest extant version, just to test how long it takes for it to be yanked by a mod here.
Apr 27, 2010
0
#88
Maybe the mods will settle down after a while. Every cop wants to shoot a few people right after he first gets hired, but most of them get bored with it after a while.
Yeah, tell that to Sean Bell.
Cystem_Phailure wrote:
HA! I haven't heard this argument in a long time. Back in grad school there were two fellow grad students who argued again and again over which of those horse bit phrases was "correct". Of course, each of them was absolutely convinced the other was wrong.
People always think the first version they ever heard must be right. I once taught an beginner's internet workshop for senior citizens, and at the start of one of the classes I overheard a woman talking to another attendee about a poem she recalled from her youth, but she could never remember the full version. Well, the poem was "Barnacle Bill" (sometimes called Bollicky Bill), which has a very long history as a sailors' drinking song, and has probably been learned and sung 1000 different ways, each bawdier and more risque than the next, in hundreds of ports over the centuries. So I used that as a starting example of how quickly you can find info on the Net, and within a minute or two we had several different verse versions.
Well, it turned out that the version this lady had learned as a youth was the one version on the entire planet that was absolutely G-rated and clean. She was appalled at the normal versions, and pronounced them all fakes. She was absolutely convinced the way she learned the poem was the "right" way. There was no room at all in her mind for the concept that versions might actually be different in different places.
--Cystem
What we know ain't necessarily so!
padman wrote:
Cool story. In this case though I'm not arguing that any one of them is wrong. They're all usable. I argue that the one I put forward is not wrong, but people seem to have issues with it and to dear eebster it doesn't make any sense at all!
I've no issues a'tall. Cystem is right. It's from my youth: my granddaddy said both: "champing at the bit" and "chafing at the bit" and they were antonym. If someone was reluctant to do something, he was "chafing (or shying) at the bit". Were someone in a big hurry, they were "champing at the bit."
I was just havin' a bit of fun. I'm with Sancho on these things: if the message gets across it's good. Sorry if you guys think I'm some kind of Don Q!
Don Q? is that take-out Spanish food?
1. Champ: To chew vigorously or noisily. 2. Champ at the bit: To show impatience. Source: Random House Dictionary.
PrawnEatsPrawn wrote:
Don Q? is that take-out Spanish food?
I thought you limeys called it take-away.
chomping at the bit
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
English
Alternative spellings
- champing at the bit (UK)
Verb
chomping at the bit
- Present participle of chomp at the bit.
bigpoison wrote:
PrawnEatsPrawn wrote:
Don Q? is that take-out Spanish food?
I thought you limeys called it take-away.
True enough, guess I'm guilty of a little "dumbing down". 
Schachgeek wrote:
theoreticalboy wrote:
Yeah, tell that to Sean Bell.
What do you know about the Sean Bell case that would make it relevant here ?
It was actually a failed attempt to provoke the mods. If anyone connected to the Bell family somehow comes across my taking his name in vain, then I can but apologize for my insensitivity.
And if any of the officers involved come across this, then I ask; please, do not shoot me 50 times outside a nightclub, because I don't think my heart could take it (bu-duh-dum-chish!)
tonydal wrote:
padman wrote:
Splitting infinitives! I hate it when people do that.
Then there's splitting infinity...though come to think of it, that would still be infinity... :)
Unless you split it infinity times.
Apr 27, 2010
0
#99
Schachgeek wrote:
I thought Q was 007's boss.
Didn't Q design all the gadgets? I always suspected the real boss of the whole operation was Moneypenny.
and why am I missing all the fun here ?!
Cuz you're all the way down there in Australia, kco...just be sure and hold the string tight (and put the tin can right up to your ear). :)
Thanks for the advice, I'll remember that next time also make you pull your end too mine is abit long here.