George Orwell wrote in 1946: "Some metaphors now current have been twisted out of their original meaning without those who use them even being aware of the fact

George Orwell wrote in 1946: "Some metaphors now current have been twisted out of their original meaning without those who use them even being aware of the fact. For example, toe the line is sometimes written as tow the line. Another example is the hammer and the anvil, now always used with the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would avoid perverting the original phrase." http://people.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/orwell46.htm http://people.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/orwell46.htm