Fishing for a Complement

Unless I make the funny remark and I can laugh at myself, I don't usually like to out the source of the verbal faux pas I find. However, this comes directly from a grammar workbook I use, which makes it even more comical.

The sentence is as follows:
"My mother was fishing for a complement."

While the mother may have been "fishing" in her closet for a sweater to complement, or go perfectly with, her outfit, she was probably searching for a compliment, or nice comment, about something she was wearing or had done.

Pale in Insignificance

When you compare two objects, one may seem rather insignificant after examining them, but this statement seems to state the result of the comparison before it has even begun to compare.

According to the idioms section on thefreedictionary.com, this common cliche has a couple different forms of expression:

pale beside someone or something

Fig. to appear to be weak or unimportant when compared to someone or something. He is competent, but he pales beside Fran. My meager effort pales beside your masterpiece.

pale by comparison and pale in comparison

Fig. to appear to be deficient in comparison to something else. My work pales by comparison with yours. You are a real pro." (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pales)

I suppose it could become pale as a result of being so insignificant?

Federal Burrow of Investigation

"Sounds like..." bureau?

It's a pretty funny mix up if you picture this very official government institution in the setting of a hobbit.

Breathing Down My ---- What?

What she said was "breathing down my throat," but (of course) what she meant was "breathing down my neck."

Just stop for a moment and conjure up a mental picture of what the first expression looks like. No, it is not an image that makes much sense. Now try the second one. A bit clearer? I thought so!

It's not uncommon to mix metaphors in a busy mental state, and she certainly had a lot happening at this moment. And I am not sure why she mixed "breathing down my neck" with "pushing down my throat" as they mean two completely different things, but necks and throats are close relatives, so that could be the reason why.