A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

fling something away • fling something off
fling something away —
1
. throw smth. away; get rid of smth.
unwanted: Let’s fling that old furniture away and buy some
new. 2. waste smth. such as an opportunity, etc.: You shouldn’t
fling away a chance like that. 3. say smth. casually or carelessly:
You flung away that last line, we couldn’t hear you.
fling something off —
1
. quickly remove one’s clothing: It’s
good to fling off heavy clothing now that spring is here. 2. get
free from smth.; discard smth.: In a new job, one should fling
off old habits of thought. 3. release or produce heat, smell,
etc.: When this material burns, it flings off a nasty smell. 4.
write or compose smth. quickly and easily: I can fling off a
poem in half an hour. 5. = fling something away 3: Before you
fling off a remark like that, think what you are saying.
float someone’s boat • paddle one’s own canoe
float someone’s boat—(coll.) said of smth. that excites or
interests a person: He describes himself as a music addict —
music theatre, in particular, really floats his boat.
paddle one’s own canoe —(also: hoe one’s own row) be inde-
pendent; follow one’s interests or inclination: The Labor Party
wished, as it were, to paddle its own canoe — to build in
Britain a show-house of democratic socialism.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase blow one’s own trumpet—(also: ring one’s own bell)
announce one’s own successes; praise oneself: Jim is very good at
blowing his own trumpet: to listen to him, one would think
he was the only man who could do the job.
flog a dead horse • work for a dead horse
flog a dead horse —(also: beat a dead horse) pursue a futile
goal; try to revive interest in a dead issue: You can see it in
the players’ eyes and faces they’re totally fed up with playing.
You’re flogging a dead horse.
work for a dead horse —(also: work out the dead horse) do
work for which payment has been made in advance: For the
first month at sea he was working for nothing — in other words
he was working for a “dead horse.”