Frequent readers will know about my particular obsession with mis-used cliches. The latest one that I ran across involves someone saying that she was “getting her hands wet”. In the context, I think she meant “getting her feet wet”, as in learning some new skill or trying out new things, easing into it as you would water that you might be unsure of. It was possible, of course, that she meant she was “getting her hands dirty“, or diving right in and working at something, rather than standing back and keeping her hands neat and tidy. Most likely she was mixing up the two sayings, at any rate.
Or perhaps it was a deliberate combination, suggesting that she was new to some task, and also rolling up her sleeves and getting right into it! That would be pretty clever, actually.
Or come to think of it, maybe we’ve got a Lady MacBeth situation on our hands.
Uh, I better go make a call.