Judith‘s sharp editrix eye was caught by a couple of mixed metaphors in the media this week. Rob Lowe, a star of NBC TV’s West Wing said of one of his fellow actors in the show, Allison Janney:
“She just tees the ball up and hits it out of the park every single time.”
. More surprising was this one from William Safire (accurately described by Mrs Wrubel Levy as “language maven and right-wing mouthpiece”) writing in the New York Times:
“editorialists began to hold their noses at echoes of the Smoot-Hawley trade barriers”
. I noticed something that might be called a “mixed metaphor” this morning. It’s certainly unfortunate when someone describes a drug regime (in a headline) as being “a mixed bag for colon cancer“.
Actually, “teeing it up and hitting it out of the park” isn’t necessarily a mixed metaphor: young baseball players hit from a tee, as do professionals in rehab or to redefine some lost muscle memory (in rehab or training). And in really lopsided games, the opposing pitcher mighe be refered to a “a human batting tee.”
I agree in holding one’s nose at an echo, though: Safire wrote that? Dock his pay . . .
Yes, all that is true — but I’m pretty certain Lowe’s point was that Allison Janney is a consummate professional who’s performing at the top of her game. So the analogy to either a Little Leaguer or a player in rehab doesn’t hold. (Of course, he might be far more slick with a backhanded insult than I had supposed, but I’m fairly sure he was trying to compliment her; she’s one of the most gifted actors on the show and very popular with the cast.)