cross the streams

== English == === Etymology === Allusion to the 1984 film Ghostbusters, in which the characters are warned not let the energy streams from their proton packs cross, in order to avoid a catastrophic explosion. === Verb === cross the streams (third-person singular simple present crosses the streams, present participle crossing the streams, simple past and past participle crossed the streams) (colloquial, humorous) To bring together two very disparate things, or things that the speaker thinks should be kept separate.