My interest in these funny expressions dates back to a facebook post in the "Way with Words" group. It was the familiar "a such-and-such walks into a bar" meme, but with various parts of speech.
Here it is, followed by some choice comments:
A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.
A bar was walked into by the passive voice.
An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
Two quotation marks walk into a "bar".
A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.
Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.
A question mark walks into a bar?
A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."
A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.
A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.
A synonym strolls into a tavern.
At the end of the day, a cliche walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.
A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.
Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.
A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.
An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.
The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.
A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph.
The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.
A dyslexic walks into a bra.
A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.
An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television getting drunk and smoking cigars.
A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.
A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.
A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.
14 Comments (original to the above post)
Joey Brode
An alliteration bops into a bar begging bitterly for better booze.
Lynne Steele Terzis
A homophone walks into a barre ...
Joey Brode
A double negative couldn't not walk into a bar.
Paul Southendmd
An ellipsis walks into a bar...
Paul Southendmd
Walk into a bar, an anastrophe did. (not mine, sounds like Yoda)
Paul Southendmd
A spoonerism balked into a war. (also not mine, but pretty good)
Paul Southendmd
A mondegreen walks into a bar on karaoke night and starts singing "Bohemian Rap City".
Paul Southendmd
An eggcorn walks into a bar, sees a man choking, and performs the Heimlich remover.
Joey Brode
Oy. So what's the difference between an eggcorn and a mondegreen??? this is getting very sophisticated!
Paul Southendmd
A mondegreen is essentially a mis-hearing of a phrase/lyrics, etc. and is usually nonsensical ("laid him on the green" becomes "Lady Mondegreen"). An eggcorn is a mis-hearing that is plausible (like Old-Timer's for Alzheimer's).
Paul Southendmd
There's also the "hind-lick maneuver".
Paul Southendmd
A girl walks into a bar and asks for a double entendre so the bar man gave her one.
Paul Southendmd
A Bostonian sheep walks into a baa.
Lynne Steele Terzis
A homonym passes the bar ...
And a new one:
A synecdoche hot foots it into a bar to give the bartender a hand.
