[Idiom] Modification of idioms

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Tdol

The Sun newspaper has a very well-known example- search for 'Stick it up your Junta' and you'll find the most famous/notorious example in recent decades in British English.

PS Maybe this needs some explanation. Readers of the Sun referred to the miltary government of Argentina (the junta) as the /'ʤʌntǝ/. There is a rather dated expression of contempt - 'stick it up your jumper'.

b

[BobK]

One last thought. Sometimes a book title is a modified idiom - for example, the expression 'to leave no stone unturned' [=search very carefully] gave both a book-title ('No turn unstoned' - a collection of adverse reviews of theatrical 'turns') and a jokey newspaper headline about massage parlours: 'No stern untoned'.

b