I've always thought "to coin a phrase" means to invent a phrase or be the first person to use it.
Today I came across this usage by a reporter for the Lancashire Telegraph
The Burnley board are damned if they do and damned if they don’t, to
coin a Kilby phrase, ‘bet the ranch’.
In this statement, very clearly the reporter is using Kilby's common phrase and not making up her own
Some searching led me to the Cambridge dictionary
to coin a phrase
something you say before using an expression that has been very
popular or used too much
In this definition this becomes equivalent to cliched
The same sentiment is explained at http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/coin-a-phrase.html
So my question is whether this is universally the case or is it a British English thing?
Is it now incorrect to use "coin a phrase" with a meaning of "a new phrase" ?
Best Answer
I'm sure the reporter knew perfectly well the implications of using to coin a phrase, and it wasn't an "ironic" usage in the sense that people say this when trotting out a cliche. It's a tichy (tongue-in-cheek) example of typical British understatement.
Barry Kilby (manager of Burnley Football Club) has said more than once that he wouldn't bet the ranch on the outcome of an upcoming game. The reporter is slightly niggled by this, since the standard (particularly in the UK) expression is bet the farm. She's even more niggled because we don't even have "ranches" in the UK - but we do have a preponderance of foreign (including American) managers of our football clubs.
Personally I think the reporter is taking two or three good-natured pops at what she sees as legitimate targets, while showing her own skill at writing by doing this in so few words.
Edit: Having not actually followed OP's link to the newspaper report itself until now, I've just somewhat sheepishly changed the gender of my pronoun references to reporter Suzanne Geldard.