3.14.25 Culture Friday, the Looney Tunes cinematic debut, and Word Play highlights malaphors

Summary

The World and Everything In It: Episode Summary – March 14, 2025

Hosted by WORLD Radio's Myrna Brown and Nick Eicher, Episode 3.14.25 of "The World and Everything In It" delves into a spectrum of current events, cultural discussions, and linguistic insights. This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting key topics, notable quotes, and expert analyses.

---

1. Capitol Hill and Government Funding Crisis

Kent Covington opens the episode with an update on the urgent efforts in the U.S. Senate to pass a government funding bill to prevent a shutdown. The deadline is looming, and senators are negotiating to approve a Republican-led stopgap spending bill. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is prepared to consider this bill, despite Democrats’ initial demands for provisions limiting auditing powers associated with Elon Musk's "Doge."

Notable Quote:

Kent Covington [01:03]: "Senators are up against a midnight deadline to pass a government funding bill to avert a government shutdown."

---

2. International Affairs: Ukraine Ceasefire and NATO Defense Spending

The discussion shifts to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who has tentatively agreed to a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, pending further discussions involving President Trump. Trump expressed cautious optimism about Putin's response.

Notable Quotes:

George Grant [01:52]: "He put out a very promising statement."

John Stonestreet [01:56]: "But it wasn't complete."

Kent Covington also reports on a significant increase in NATO members' defense budgets, with European nations committing billions more, reflecting heightened geopolitical tensions.

Notable Quote:

John Stonestreet [02:30]: "The Europeans committing to a package of 800 billion defense spending."

Furthermore, Trump reiterated his interest in making Greenland a U.S. territory, citing national security concerns and existing military bases.

Notable Quote:

George Grant [02:51]: "We really need Greenland for national security. It's very important."

---

3. Domestic Policies: EPA Deregulation and Economic Indicators

The episode covers EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s announcement to eliminate 31 Biden-era regulations affecting various sectors, including power plants and oil and gas production. This move is touted as the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.

Notable Quote:

Nick Eicher [04:17]: "I'm pleased to make the largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history."

Kent Covington highlights contrasting perspectives on economic health, noting that while Trump touts the cooling of inflation and decreasing prices for essentials, Democrats criticize the rollbacks as potentially harmful in the long run.

Notable Quotes:

George Grant [03:39]: "I'm less concerned about the short term."

Colin Garberino [03:48]: "We want to protect the American worker..."

---

4. Middle East: Israeli Airstrike in Syria

A brief segment reports on an Israeli airstrike in Damascus which injured three individuals. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the strike as a response to attacks on Israel, while a member of the Islamic Jihad in Syria condemned it as blatant aggression.

Notable Quote:

Netanyahu [referring to the strike]: "Israel has a clear policy. Whoever attacks us or plans to attack us, we strike them."

---

5. Culture Friday: Southern Baptist Abuse Investigation

John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast, discusses the conclusion of a two-and-a-half-year federal investigation into alleged abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The investigation concluded without additional criminal charges, with former pastor Matt Queen only pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about document destruction.

Notable Quotes:

John Stonestreet [07:09]: "Christians really do self-flagellate. We have an awareness of our sin and we talk about that."

John Stonestreet [07:09]: "Nothing unique there for Southern Baptist."

Stonestreet critiques the perception that the SBC was uniquely culpable, arguing that abuse and corruption are pervasive issues across various institutions.

---

6. Cultural Shift: Black Lives Matter Plaza Repainted

The episode addresses the recent decision to repaint Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C., removing the prominent BLM lettering. John Stonestreet interprets the BLM organization's cryptic statement, "painting over a street won't change a blank thing," as a critique of superficial changes that do not address underlying issues.

Notable Quotes:

John Stonestreet [10:47]: "If you assume because of anything other than the human condition and human character that moral guilt should be assigned, you're going to misread the situation."

He connects this event to broader criticisms of critical theory frameworks and highlights corporate shifts away from DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies, citing Chase Bank and Target as examples.

---

7. Looney Tunes Cinematic Debut: “The Day the Earth Blew Up”

Arts and Culture Editor Colin Garberino reviews the new Looney Tunes feature film, "The Day the Earth Blew Up," marking the franchise's first fully animated theatrical release beyond compilations. The 91-minute film stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck in a plot reminiscent of 1950s science fiction B-movies.

Synopsis: Porky and Daffy are tasked with renovating their dilapidated farmhouse to meet city standards. Their efforts are complicated by a UFO crash and an alien plot to turn the population into zombies. The film blends slapstick humor with a nostalgic visual style, maintaining the classic Looney Tunes charm while introducing a coherent narrative.

Notable Quotes:

Colin Garberino [17:38]: "The film isn't merely pleasant to look at. It has a genuinely appealing story."

George Grant [20:24]: "Woo hoo."

The film retains the signature cartoon violence and humor, updated with modern double entendres and a hand-drawn 2D animation style that honors the golden age of Warner Bros. Animation.

---

8. Word Play: Exploring Malaphors

George Grant presents the Word Play segment focusing on "malaphors," which are humorous blends of malapropisms and metaphors. He explains how malaphors combine unrelated idioms to create comical, nonsensical expressions.

Examples Include:

• "Every cloud has a silver spoon in its mouth."
• "It's time to step up to the plate and lay your cards on the table."
• "Burn that bridge when we come to it."

Grant highlights notable usages by public figures, including mixed idioms by Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, emphasizing the linguistic creativity and humor inherent in malaphors.

Notable Excerpts:

George Grant [24:18]: "It's always wise to keep an eye on potential malaphors with an ear to the ground and a finger on the pulse of your audience."

---

9. Supporting Initiatives and Opportunities

The hosts briefly mention the World Journalism Institute, inviting college students and recent graduates to apply for a competitive, free program aimed at fostering journalism careers grounded in facts and biblical truth. Information about other educational and entrepreneurial support networks, such as Reformation Bible College and Ambassadors Impact Network, is also provided.

---

10. Closing Remarks

The episode concludes with acknowledgments to the team members and a reminder to listeners to participate in community activities over the weekend.

Final Quote:

Myrna Brown [29:03]: "The Bible says, blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation."

---

This episode of "The World and Everything In It" offers a comprehensive look at pressing political developments, cultural shifts, and entertaining new media releases, all through a lens that integrates factual reporting with faith-based perspectives.

Transcript

[Myrna Brown]

Good morning. Today on Culture Friday, a new paint job for Black Lives Matter Plaza, a proposed workforce reduction for the Department of Education, and the big abuse scandal among Southern Baptists that wasn't.

[Nick Eicher]

Johnstonestreet is standing by for Culture Friday. And later, why this is just the.

[Myrna Brown]

Opportunity we've been waiting for.

[Nick Eicher]

Woo hoo. Looney Tunes makes its cinematic debut and metaphor meets malaprop. Because when it comes to wordplay, you'll always find George Grant burning both ends of the midnight oil.

[Myrna Brown]

It's Friday, March 14th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown.

[Nick Eicher]

And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.

[Myrna Brown]

Up next, Ken Covington with today's news at the Capitol.

[Kent Covington]

Senators are up against a midnight deadline to pass a government funding bill to avert a government shutdown. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday that he's ready to start the process today of considering a Republican led stopgap spending bill. Democrats had been holding out, demanding, among other things, language to limit the power of Doge, led by Elon Musk to audit government spending. Russia's Vladimir Putin says he agrees in principle with the US proposal for a 30 day ceasefire in Ukraine. But he said certain provisions still need to be ironed out and more discussions are needed, including with President Trump. And for his part, Trump welcomed Putin's response, expressing guarded optimism.

[George Grant]

He put out a very promising statement.

[John Stonestreet]

But it wasn't complete.

[George Grant]

And yeah, I'd love to meet with him or talk to him, but we have to get it over with fast.

[Kent Covington]

Ukraine has already accepted the proposal from the U.S. putin said he wants to ensure that Ukraine does not use a ceasefire as a chance to rearm. And he added that there must be a mechanism in place to control any breaches of the truce. President Trump hosted NATO Secretary General Mark Ruda at the White House on Thursday. Ruda praised the president for motivating other NATO members to step up defense spending. He said, what we've seen in recent weeks is, quote, staggering.

[John Stonestreet]

The Europeans committing to a package of 800 billion defense spending.

[George Grant]

The Germans now potentially up to half a trillion extra in defence spending.

[John Stonestreet]

And then of course, you have Keir Starmen here, the British prime minister and.

[George Grant]

Others all committing to much higher defence spending.

[Kent Covington]

During the meeting, President Trump again expressed his desire to make Greenland a U.S. territory.

[George Grant]

We really need Greenland for national security. It's very important. You know, we have a couple of bases on Greenland already and we have quite a few soldiers and maybe you'll see more and more soldiers go there.

[John Stonestreet]

I don't know.

[Kent Covington]

The president questioned whether the autonomous territory is rightly a part of the kingdom of Denmark. Trump also said yesterday that the US Is not going to bend on new trade tariffs. He argued that America has been ripped off by friend and foe alike in lopsided trade agreements. And he threatened a 200% tariff on imports of European wine and spirits in response to the European Union's proposed 50% tax on U.S. whiskey that rattled Wall street, sparking a sell off. But Treasury Secretary Scott Besant says this is about the big picture.

[George Grant]

I'm less concerned about the short term.

[John Stonestreet]

I think we've had a big unwind.

[George Grant]

And the tariffs we've got strategic industries.

[Colin Garberino]

We've have we want to protect the.

[John Stonestreet]

American worker, that a lot of these trade deals haven't been fair.

[Kent Covington]

And Trump officials say the economy is heading in the right direction. The White House distributed a fact sheet highlighting the fact that inflation cooled in February for the first time in five months and the average price of things like eggs and gas are dropping. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says his agency is about to drop the axe on dozens of Biden era rules.

[John Stonestreet]

Today.

[Nick Eicher]

I'm pleased to make the largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history.

[Kent Covington]

Zeldin says his team plans to roll back 31 regulations that restrict power plants, oil and gas production, manufacturing and more.

[Nick Eicher]

EPA will be reconsidering many suffocating rules.

[John Stonestreet]

That restrict nearly every sector of our.

[Nick Eicher]

Economy and cost Americans trillions of dollars.

[Kent Covington]

Democrats call the rollbacks reckless and insist that they'll cost Americans and the world far more. In Syrians inspected the damage on Thursday after an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building on the outskirts of Damascus. Three people were reportedly injured. One member of the terror group Islamic Jihad in Syria says the strike hit the home of one of his group's members. He called the action blatant Israeli aggression. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the home was actually the Damascus headquarters of Islamic Jihad. Netanyahu said the reason for the strike is simple. Israel has a clear policy. Whoever attacks us or plans to attack us, we strike them. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig have to save the world in a new movie from Looney Tunes. Colin Garberino has the review. This Is the World and Everything in it.

[Myrna Brown]

It's Friday, the 14th of March. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything In It. Good morning.

[Nick Eicher]

Hi, I'm Myrna Brown and I'm Nick Iger. Time now for Culture Friday. Joining us is John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. John, good morning.

[John Stonestreet]

Good morning.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, John, let's begin with the Southern Baptist Convention and that big sexual abuse investigation. The Nashville Tennessean reporting this week that a two and a half year federal investigation into alleged abuse has ended with no additional criminal charges. Former SBC pastor Matt Queen pled guilty, but not for abuse. His crime was lying to the FBI about document destruction. And meantime, our friend journalist Megan Basham says this outcome simply shows there was no abuse apocalypse in the sbc contra the reports that the crisis was overstated. What John, is your take on all this?

[John Stonestreet]

Well, I do think the sense in which this crisis was overstated is as if there was something about the Southern Baptist Convention that made it unique among all the other institutions made and populated by fallen humans. And the guilt that was assumed on behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention was directly connected with their advancement of certain ideas. These ideas that were assumed by critics to be harmful then was necessarily used as obvious proof that you were going to uncover something dramatic and drastic here. It's the game plan we see from the left, by and large. And this time it was a game plan that was employed by left and left of center Christians. That's not to say that there hasn't been incidents of abuse in Southern Baptist churches, of course, that there haven't been cover ups, of course. But the scale that suddenly this was going to be something that was found that was unprecedented in human history made an assumption that really is a critical theory assumption that if you're on the wrong side of these ideas, then you're going to be guilty because your ideas are really that bad. Your ideas politically support particular candidates or particularly a view of women in ministry or any one of these things that were kind of all strung together and used essentially as the justification to go after this sort of thing. I think this whole investigation and this whole story points to two things. Number one is that Christians really do self flagellate. We do. We have an awareness of our sin and we talk about that. And we want to hold our own institutions accountable. And human nature shows that sometimes we do that well and a lot of times we don't do that well. And when individuals have unaccountable positions of authority and power, they will try to protect that. And all that's part of the story, but it's all part of the human condition. Nothing unique there for Southern Baptist. But the other thing is that there's something built into Christians and Christian communities in the end where we are willing to admit fault. You don't have that sort of same thing and I'm using that on a very grand scale. You don't have that at the same degree. When it comes to something like public schools, when it comes to something like government overreach or government abuse and corruption, it's not built into the ideas and then for built into the system. So this isn't unlike the nation of Canada going on this huge hunt for mass graves at religious schools who were co opted by the government to take care of native children and none were found. And the reputational hit is hard in those cases. It's hard to recover what everyone then assumes happened. But of course Christians believe that humans are made in the image and likeness of God and every single one is infinitely valuable. So the reputation of a denomination is still worth questioning for the sake of children. There's a lot there in a little bit of time, but to me all of those things seem to be huge factors.

[Myrna Brown]

Mm. Well, John, over in Washington D.C. city workers have painted over the giant black Lives Matter lettering on what used to be known as BLM Plaza. Now the organization's X account posted painting over a street won't change a blank thing. Now that's a cryptic comment. So are they saying a coat of paint won't stop them or are they saying the original BLM paint job didn't change anything? I mean, you know, it's an odd thing to say.

[John Stonestreet]

Well, yeah, I'm wondering which way that was intended as well, like and in the sense of painting over this won't stop the movement or of painting over this, you know, won't do a thing to overturn the corruption that has been exposed in the BLM organization. And that again gets to the heart of why this framework, this critical theory mood, this critical theory framework is such a terrible framework for determining morality because if you assume because of anything other than the human condition and human character that moral guilt should be assigned, you're going to misread the situation. And so we have an organization that could do no wrong because they had claimed the oppressed status, doing an awful lot of things wrong and getting really rich by doing an awful lot of things wrong. And we also have the corruption that it brought to things like education, to things like corporate America. And we have seen in the last several months a a dramatic departure from those things. Just this week, Chase bank announced that they are no longer going to be canceling organizations that are deemed to be on the wrong side of some of these issues, and so good for them to make that change. We've talked about how Target changed their DEI policies and all the other things that are associated with this. In a sense, I guess that statement that painting over this street in D.C. really won't change a thing because it won't change the actual human condition. But hopefully it is a mark that some things have changed, which is the tyranny of this really bad idea.

[Nick Eicher]

Right. Well, John, hey, before we go, I would like to talk about the U.S. department of Education. It just announced layoffs that will affect nearly half the workforce. This is part of President Trump's stated plan eventually to close the department. Education Secretary Linda McMahon says that the move will free up resources for students and teachers. Union officials complain this is going to undermine public education. So, John, what do you say? Is the Education Department fixable? Should it be scaled back or shut down as the president wants? And if so, what happens next?

[John Stonestreet]

Well, I think it is endable, and I think that's really where this is headed. Whether it's reformable in between now and then is going to be another question. But really what you have is this sense, and that's the outrage that you're hearing in response. You're not really hearing any outrage based on facts or evidence. You're hearing excuses. The New York Times covered this in a podcast this week about, you know, the history of the Department of Education. And it was so selective, and it really just missed the fundamental point, which was this was an experiment started by President Carter and it has failed. But part of this is this kind of cultural narrative that you're never supposed to critique anyone associated with education. You're never supposed to look and say, this isn't working. I've been thinking about this a lot because it is an odd reality, especially when it comes to teachers. We're all supposed to assume that all teachers have the best interests of the students at heart and in mind that they're really good at their job, that they're victims of low pay and high hours and hard work and all that sort of stuff. And, you know, and I think that we went through this phase when I was a kid where we started to say, you know what? Everyone needs a participation trophy. And the teachers started to believe this about themselves and that that should never be challenged. And he said, look, I have family members that are educators, and a lot of them do great jobs. All my family members do great jobs. Let me tell you that. But I'm just going to tell you this. There's a lot of educators that aren't good at their job, and some of it's not their fault. It's because they went to college and university and they learned how to do, quote, unquote, education from people who didn't know themselves how to do education that taught them instead how to do experimental social conditioning on children. And that's what they've been playing out. And the whole thing is built on this thing that I think at the end of the day, the Secretary of education, Linda McMahon's trying to undo, which is that this is fundamentally the government's responsibility and the parents aren't welcome or they're only welcome on our terms. That gets it completely backwards. Children belong to parents. Sometimes parents don't show up. Sometimes parents don't do a good job. Sometimes parents don't teach your kids to behave. And that makes it really hard for the teachers in the classroom. Still doesn't change that. All things considered equal, it's the government that's been invited into this process and probably doesn't belong. Local officials have more of a place there, certainly than federal officials. But it's not the parents who are the unwelcome guests here. And you got to flip that whole mentality completely around. And hopefully that will be at the heart at some level of the sort of control that the Department of Ed wields. And by the way, it'll go a long way to accomplishing the goal of cutting out government corruption and especially government waste because clearly this has not been a successful experiment since President Carter imagined it.

[Nick Eicher]

All right, John Stonestreet, president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. John, thanks.

[John Stonestreet]

Thank you both. Additional support comes from the book From.

[Kent Covington]

Eden to Egypt by Alex Duke, a guided tour of Genesis from edentoegyptbook.com from.

[John Stonestreet]

Reformation Bible College, offering classical Christian education that prepares students to glorify and enjoy God in any career. Reformationbiblecollege.org and from ambassadors Impact Network, helping entrepreneurs who are looking for more than.

[Kent Covington]

Just funding discover a community of Christian faith.

[John Stonestreet]

Led investors [e-mail].

[Nick Eicher]

Today is Friday, March 14th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I'm Nick Icker.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Myrna Brown. Coming next on the world and everything in it, classic cartoon characters on the big screen.

[Nick Eicher]

Looney Tunes has been delighting audiences for almost a century with slapstick violence and witty repartee. Now I'm one of the generations of Americans who grew up on these animated classics. So it is a bit surprising that the franchise has never produced a fully animated feature film that was more than just a compilation.

[Myrna Brown]

This weekend, that changes Arts and culture editor Colin Gabbarino. Now on the new film, the Day the Earth Blew Up.

[Colin Garberino]

When I was young, Looney Tunes and its carrot chomping hero, Bugs Bunny seemed like the faster brasher alternative to Disney's Mickey Mouse friends. I could expect breakneck chases and falling anvils served up with plenty of sass. Most of the Looney Tunes shorts I watched had been created decades before, but I didn't really notice because they possessed a timeless quality. Now Warner Bros. Animation is offering a new spin on those old classics. The Day the Earth Blew up stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. It's an engaging 91 minute homage to the science fiction B movies of the 1950s. The film begins with the odd couple, Porky and Daffy, living in a dilapidated farmhouse.

[Myrna Brown]

Today's our annual Home Standards review. Ah, yes, the good old annual Home Standards review. What implant again?

[Colin Garberino]

The two friends are struggling to bring their home up to code to avoid its condemnation by the city. And while Porky is a conscientious sort of fellow who works with a plan.

[Myrna Brown]

And me, well, I'm just plain loony.

[Colin Garberino]

His looniness puts their home improvements in jeopardy. The situation becomes even more dire when a UFO crashes into their home, destroying the roof. With a city imposed deadline looming, Porky and Daffy need a new roof fast. But they can't afford to hire a roofer. They need some quick cash to save their home.

[Myrna Brown]

There is one thing we can do. Wait for a stimulus check? No, Get a job. A job? You mean like work?

[Colin Garberino]

Their quest for gainful employment has its share of hiccups, most of which are brought on by Daffy's erratic behavior. But things begin looking up for the pals when they meet a new friend.

[Myrna Brown]

Hi, I'm Petunia Pig.

[Colin Garberino]

Nice to meet you.

[Myrna Brown]

That indecisive scatterbrains over there is my bff, Porky Pig. Uh, hi.

[Colin Garberino]

Petunia Pig is a scientist at the local gum factory, and she gets Porky and Daffy jobs on the production floor. This zany adventure kicks into high gear when Daffy discovers an alien plot at the gum factory to turn the world's population into mindless zombies. Will Daffy and Porky be able to save the world by thwarting an extraterrestrial mastermind? Or will the unpredictable Daffy gum it up again?

[Nick Eicher]

Someone stop that Loony Duck.

[Colin Garberino]

It might seem odd that Looney Tunes first 100% animated theatrical feature length film doesn't include the franchise's signature character, Bugs Bunny, but the film wasn't originally intended for cinemas. Warner Bros. Animation originally developed the Day the Earth Blew up as fodder for the Max streaming service, but parent company Warner Bros. Discovery started prioritizing profits over subscriber growth, which led to the film's theatrical release.

[Myrna Brown]

Why, this is just the opportunity we've been waiting for.

[George Grant]

Woo hoo.

[Colin Garberino]

We're There's a risk in taking Looney Tunes characters whose natural habitat is the 10 minute sketch and asking them to carry a feature length film. But filmmakers of the Day the Earth Blew up managed to craft a story that doesn't wear thin while cramming in the slapstick gags and action sequences set to music that audiences have come to expect. The movie is rated PG for the kinds of things that have characterized Looney tunes throughout its 95 years. Cartoon violence and rude humor. Characters get pummeled, launched, run over and exploded. There's also a number of jokes involving derrieres, and Daffy engages in some unintentional double entendre that feels like a 21st century update meant to replace the kinds of mildly risque moments that sometimes popped up in the classic cartoons. What hasn't been updated is the visual style, which takes its inspiration from the golden age of Warner Bros. Animation. The Day the Earth Blew up proves that what was once old has become new again. Its 2D hand drawn style manages to feel both refreshing and nostalgic at the same time.

[Myrna Brown]

Daffy, I need you to go down there and fix this. But Porky, you know I can't.

[George Grant]

I always make things worse.

[Myrna Brown]

And that's exactly what we need, really.

[Colin Garberino]

The film isn't merely pleasant to look at. It has a genuinely appealing story. We sympathize with Porky, who desperately looks for ways to minimize Daffy's chaos and who also hopes to impress the lovely Petunia. But we also sympathize with Daffy, who's hurt when he discovers how others view him. The relational arc coupled with an out of this world plot twist make the Day the Earth Blew Up a madcap good time. I'm Colin Carbolina.

[Myrna Brown]

That's all folks.

[Nick Eicher]

Today is Friday, March 14th. Good morning. This is the World and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Nick Iker.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Myrna Brown. Well, hey, it's that time of year again when we start accepting applications to our annual World Journalism Institute program for college students and recent graduates interested in journalism careers.

[Nick Eicher]

So if you have a young person in your home, or you just are a young person in your home interested in journalism, this is really a great opportunity to see what it's all about. Two weeks to learn firsthand from our reporters and editors on how we approach covering the news professionally, how we do sound journalism grounded in facts and biblical truth. Now, thanks to generous donors, we're able to offer this program without charge to the students.

[Myrna Brown]

Yes, without charge, but not without challenge. This is a competitive program and it is not easy to get in. And I hate to say it, but once you do get in, it just gets harder. But you know what they say, right?

[Nick Eicher]

No pain, no gain. And I am here to dish out the pain.

[Myrna Brown]

Yes, he does, y'all. For real. The course runs from May 15 through May 31 on the campus of Dort University in Sioux Center, Iowa. We always have more applicants than we have classroom space, and the deadline is just two weeks away. Friday, March 28th. The process does require a bit of writing, so listen, don't put it off. Apply today at WJI World. We'll also put a link in today's transcript and show notes as well.

[Nick Eicher]

Right. So grab the bull by the horns. Or better yet, in the spirit of wordplay for this month, grab the headline by the deadline. Here is George Grant.

[George Grant]

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase compares one thing to another for rhetorical effect. Metaphors provide literary descriptions that can serve as figures of speech and sometimes end up as tropes, idioms or cliches. A male four, on the other hand, is a blend of malapropism and metaphor. It's when we use two or more unrelated metaphors, making them into a single muddled, nonsensical or garbled expression, usually with comical effect. Formerly known as a catachresis or eggcorn, a mallephore is what we more commonly call a mixed idiom or a mixed metaphor. Examples abound. Every cloud has a silver spoon in its mouth. He was watching me like I was a hawk. It's like looking for a needle in a hayride. It's time to step up to the plate and lay your cards on the table. That train has left the frying pan. Take the moral high, horse, and when the going gets tough, the early bird gets the worm. Some male fours almost sound right. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it. You can't teach an old leopard new spots. You could have knocked me over with a fender. Get all your ducks on the same page. Burn the midnight oil from both ends and he has a heart as big as gold. A TV news presenter declared, the price of eggs has become a hot potato. A high school coach solemnly charged his team to line up in a circle. The baseball legend Yogi Berra was famously inclined to utter an entire catalog of male fours. Baseball is 90% half mental. Pair them up in threes. I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did. When you come to a fork in the road, take it a nickel ain't worth a dime anymore and it's deja vu all over again. Even rhetorically adept politicians can sometimes lapse into maleforce. Barack Obama famously quipped, he's green behind the ears when it comes to foreign policy. Senator Ellen Simpson decried the lack of a budget deal between Congress and the president, saying, they've dug their own snare. Tennessee State Senator Stacy Campfield said a common sense policy proposal was hardly rocket surgery. Alabama State Representative John Rogers declared, we'll be here until the cows come home from kappa strike. Jean Kwan, the mayor of Oakland, modestly declared, I don't want to toot my own hat. Of course, sometimes malafores are deliberately used for rhetorical effect. Incumbent Texas governor Ann Richards declared that her opponent, George W. Bush, was born with a silver foot in his mouth. And Ronald Reagan declared that House Speaker Tip O'Neill was a wolf in cheap clothing. It's always wise to keep an eye on potential male fors with an ear to the ground and a finger on the pulse of your audience. Do you follow where I'm coming from? I'm George Grant.

[Nick Eicher]

Alright, time now to say thank. Thank you to the team members who helped to put the program together this week. Mary Reichard, Lindsay Mast, George Grant, Colin Garberino, John Stonestreet, Cal Thomas, Leah Savis, Travis Kercher, Daniel Darling, Todd Vishen, Onise Addua, Carolina Lumeta, Leo Briceno, Jenny Ruff, Emma Purley, Andrew Walker and David Bonson. Thanks also to our breaking news team, Kent Covington, Lindy Langdon, Steve Klosterman, Travis Kercher and Christina Grube. And thanks to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early. Carl Peetz and Ben Jeiker.

[Myrna Brown]

Harrison Waters is Washington producer, Senior producer Kristin Flavin is features editor, Paul Butler executive producer and Les Sillers, Ed editor in chief. The world and everything in it is a production of World Radio where we bring you biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires the Bible says, blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation. Psalm 68:19 and don't forget to gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ this weekend. And Lord willing, we'll meet you right back here on Monday. Go now in grace and peace.