For many years there has been an impression that the linguistic bull is a distinctively Irish animal. The fame of Paddy Bull is world-wide, but the fact is he often is compelled to answer for the sins of his neighbor, Johnnie Bull, who, as a perpetrator of mixed metaphors, is without a peer.
In no deliberative body in the world is the mixed metaphor so much in its element as in the British House of Commons. As examples of its activity in that institution, London Tit-Bits submits the following list:
"Sir, we are told that by this legislation the heart of the country has been shaken to its very foundations."
"Among the many jarring notes heard in this House on military affairs, this subject at least must be regarded as an oasis."
"The interests of the employers and employed are the same nine times out of ten—I will even say ninety-nine times out of ten."
"Our tongues are tied, our hands are fettered, and we are really beating the air to no purpose."
"I will now repeat what I was about to say when the honorable member interrupted me."
"The West Indies will now have a future which they never had in the past."
"A thorny subject which has long been a bone of contention among us."
"A slumbering volcano which at any moment a spark might set aflame."