One malaprop that drives me crazy is when people say, “Put your John Henry on this.”
What they intend to say is, “Put your John Hancock on this.” This idiom comes from John Hancock, the last signer of the Declaration of Independence, who signed his name in a large, flourishing script.
John Henry, however, is a folk hero from 19th century America, contemporary with Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan. He was a large black man with amazing strength who drove railroad spikes with a sledge hammer.
I’m just warning you: the next time I hear someone say, “Put your John Henry on this,” to someone who is not personally named “John Henry,” I’m busting out my hammer.
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