malaprop mom

my mom is an amazing source of wisdom. however, much of her knowledge tends to be imparted in a very nontraditional way. she has perfected the art of the "unintentionally wise mis-quote," wherein she rearranges, mashes, slices and dices well-known sayings into new, unusual, and yet surprisingly insightful quotes. for instance, the following are but a few of her many gems from over the years...

"the kids are eating like weeds these days"
"he's a chip off the old shoulder"
"no skin off my bones"

...and so on. but today, she came up with perhaps her best work yet. on the way home from the beach, the topic of conversation happened to land on a certain individual (anonymous and unimportant), about whom my mother made the following observation:

"he's a swell of a nice guy"


misspoken? perhaps. but nonetheless, it's yet another entry into the"mom-isms" book of lore