Word Spy - muffin-choker

(MUH.fin-choh.kur) n. A bizarre, sensational, or unbelievable news story.

Example Citation:

Basically — by adopting this amendment — we'll be doing what Australia, Britain, Belgium, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden have been doing — and that is that recognizing that female genital mutilation is one thing that is coming into their country solely by immigration.

That if you look at the world population — more than 100,000,000 women in more than 30 countries have been subjected to this — and as we all know, this is very painful ritual that has nothing to do with religion or health — and it usually is done to very young girls.

Most people would consider it a serious form of child abuse.

It is the cutting of a woman's genitalia — it's kind of a muffin-choker — so I really won't go into more detail — but I think most people have had and heard enough about this.
—Pat Schroeder, "HEARING OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, MARK-UP OF IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION," Federal News Service, November 17, 1995

Earliest Citation:

It's the end of the year, time to clear the computer of bizarre stories, or muffin-chokers, as they're called in the newsroom.
—Jack Thomas, "When newspapers are stranger than fiction," The Boston Globe, December 28, 1989

Notes:

This phrase comes from the reaction one would supposedly have after reading about such a story in the morning newspaper.

Categories:

Food and Drink
Media and Journalism

Posted on June 13, 1996

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