Rolls off the Tongue

Here is this week's . Can you guess the expression?

DOESN'T PASS THE SMELL TEST
Idiomatic Meaning: An informal threshold of authenticity, ethics, or plausibility; triggers an immediate, intuitive sense that something is dishonest, suspicious, or wrong—even before complete evidence is examined.

Literal Meaning: Something subjected to an examination of either its odor, or its ability to smell.

Usage: Formal and Informal spoken and written, American English. Most frequently invoked in legal, financial, corporate, and political settings to evaluate claims without needing deep technical analysis upfront. The idiom is almost exclusively used in the negative form (i.e., failing or not passing).

Origin: Mid to late 20h Century – American English. The idiom stems directly from standard household safety routines: sniffing food or grain to check for mold or decay before consuming it. The literal compound noun "smell test" was first documented in dictionaries around 1900–1905. The figurative idiom began appearing sporadically in American legalese, government, and political commentary around the 1970s and early 1980s. Prior to its current phrasing, popular alternatives included "stinks to high heaven" or "is fishy".

Why is this funny? In the cartoon, we see three picnickers in a forest. One of them thinks he smells something bad, but the other two reassure him, that they don’t smell anything and that everything is fine. Off to the side, hiding in the woods and watching them is a disappointed skunk who had sprayed them in hopes of getting them to leave. He thinks back to his days in “skunk school” where he could not graduate. The skunk “didn’t pass the smell test” when he was younger and even today, his spray and odor doesn’t pass the smell test!

Sample Sentence: Trump’ explanation for the Reflecting Pool “didn’t pass the smell test.”

BAD ACTOR
Idiomatic Meaning: A bad actor is an individual, group, organization, or entity that acts with malicious intent, breaks rules, or deliberately causes harm. While it sounds like a reference to an untalented performer, "actor" here is used in its broader sociological and legal sense—meaning “one who performs an action or an agent of change.”

Literal Meaning: A stage/screen performer who has not learned the art of acting very well.

Usage: Formal and Informal spoken and written, American and British English. Throughout the 20th century, the term expanded beyond individuals to describe anything that behaves unexpectedly or harmfully—such as volatile chemical compounds, invasive species, or aggressive diseases in medicine. Today, usage has surged across specific industries, including cybersecurity, law, finance, geopolitics and corporate governance.

Origin: Mid-19th Century – American and British English. The term stems from the original Latin root “agere” (to do, perform, or drive). Rather than emerging from the theater, the idiomatic use of "bad actor" arose as a literal descriptor for a "bad doer" or "wrongdoer". Early on, it was frequently used as a mild euphemism by public officials and law enforcement to describe a troublemaker, criminal, or unruly animal without resorting to overly dramatic language. Print examples trace back to the mid-19th century. Newspaper archives show uses as early as 1857 in The Evansville Daily Journal ("The Convention was a Pandemonium of bad actors") and 1862 in political commentary describing wartime instigators. The Oxford English Dictionary officially tracks its recorded history starting in 1879 from US congressional proceedings on labor and business.

Why is this funny? In the cartoon, we first see an older man attempting to play the part of Shakespear’s King Lear. He is doing such a poor job that the director fires him for being a bad actor. Next, we see the same actor, still dressed as King Lear, being led away by police because he had been found trying to hack into the studio’s electrical system in an attempt to shut the whole place down. He went from acting badly to being a true “bad actor”!

Sample Sentence: KGB “bad actors” were suspected of trying to sabotage voter registration data in a number of US states.

TO BOOT
Idiomatic Meaning: "In addition," “furthermore,” "besides," "as well," or "into the bargain." It is used as an adverbial tag at the end of a clause to introduce a supplementary point, usually reinforcing a description or list of qualities.

Literal Meaning: Despite having nothing to do with footwear, the spelling and pronunciation do bring it to mind. If “boot” is used as a noun, then the phrase simply points in the direction of the footwear. As a verb, in slang, “to boot” someone means to kick someone. Also, there is the expression, to “give someone the boot” could be to literally hand them the footwear or to fire or get rid of them.

Usage: Formal and Informal spoken and written, American English. The phrase almost always sits at the very end of a sentence or clause. It works naturally in both informal conversation and written prose. Used for both positive and negative traits—whatever is added simply acts as "an extra layer" on top of what was already stated.

Origin: 10th Century – British English. The phrase comes from an ancient Germanic root: Old English Source: It comes from the Old English noun bōt, which meant "help," "remedy," "compensation," or "advantage". The word comes from Proto-Germanic *bōtō and shares a root with the modern word "better".Over centuries, as bōt faded from general usage as an independent noun, the fossilized phrase survived in common speech with the broader meaning of "in addition" or "extra." The phrase is one of the oldest surviving idiom structures in the English language. Variations of the term appear in Old English manuscripts prior to the Norman Conquest. In early texts, it was often rendered as "to bote". Middle English Milestone (1330).

Why is this funny? In the first panel of the cartoon, we see a bar somewhere out west, that has a “strict no fighting policy” and a sign that spells it out. Nevertheless, two cowboys are ready to fight it out and the bartender is yelling at them to stop and remember the policy on the sign. They don’t take her seriously, questioning her ability to enforce the policy. In the second panel, she introduces them to “Tiny”, the new bouncer. She says their policy is very strict and that Tiny is ready to boot them out of the bar, “to boot”.

Sample Sentence: In my opinion, Trump is a sociopath, a narcissist, and a pe*****le “to boot”.

CHEW OUT/GET CHEWED OUT
Idiomatic Meaning: Severely reprimand, scold, or berate someone. It usually implies an intense, loud, or angry verbal dressing-down—often delivered by an authority figure, boss, or superior officer.

Literal Meaning: To bite off a piece of flesh of another person and masticate it, to the point where a significant amount of flesh is gone. Implies cannibalism, though it could be done by an animal as well.

Usage: Informal, spoken and written, American English. The phrase is best suited for everyday speech, casual writing, or storytelling. Should not be used in formal business writing, legal contexts, or academic papers. Suitable in active or passive construction.

Origin: 20th Century – American English. The phrase originated in U.S. military slang during the early 20th century. The metaphor stems from the idea of literally eating or gnawing into someone—consuming them verbally until they are "chewed up". It builds on earlier English idioms using "chew," such as chew the rag/fat (to talk or argue at length) or simply using "chew" as a transitive verb meaning to scold or bite into someone. In military contexts, it was frequently used in a coarser form: "to chew someone's ass out." Lexicographers and slang dictionaries trace the idiom's first recorded print usages back to military publications and service dictionaries around 1937–1940. The term gained massive widespread print usage during 1943 as World War II servicemen brought the phrase into popular media, soldier journals, and news publications.

Why is this funny? In the cartoon we see the office of a Zombie-run, In the Flesh Corp. Two employees are discussing the whereabouts of Jack, another employee, who has not been seen in the office recently. One of them tells the other that she heard the CEO was going to get rid of him. Around the corner from these employees is the office of CEO, Brane DeVour. The door is partially open and we see a pair of bleeding legs sticking out from the room and we hear the sounds of aggressive chewing. Since these are all Zombies, it’s obvious that Brane is chewing out pieces of Jack’s flesh after having “chewed him out” for some malfeasance.

Sample Sentence: I “got chewed out” by the park police for letting my dog off leash.

CLOSE SHAVE
Idiomatic Meaning: A narrow escape from disaster, danger, or a highly unpleasant situation. It implies that a negative outcome was avoided by the slimmest possible margin.

Literal Meaning: Having your head or body hair cut so low that your skin feels smooth as if there were no hair where it was cut.
Usage: Informal, spoken and written, British and American English. The phrase is highly versatile and can apply to physical danger, financial risks, or minor everyday inconveniences. Key Nuances: Interchangeability: It is completely synonymous with the phrase "a near miss." Tone: It is an informal, descriptive idiom. While it can describe a terrifying event after the fact, the phrase itself carries a conversational, slightly casual energy.

Origin: Mid-19th Century – British English. The phrase The phrase relies on the literal imagery of a barber shaving someone's beard. A "close shave" from a sharp razor leaves the skin completely smooth by cutting the hair at the absolute skin line. In the 19th century, this literal concept became a metaphor for coming incredibly close to a dangerous edge without actually crossing it (i.e., being cut). If a disaster "shaves" you, it brushes right past you, touching you as closely as a razor touches skin, but leaves you uninjured. While the idea of a "close shave" or being "narrowly shaved" existed in spoken English earlier, the idiom settled into its exact modern form and meaning during the early-to-mid 1800s. One of the earliest definitive print examples matching our modern usage appears in the London Magazine in 1820, where a narrow escape is described as a "close shave." It evolved alongside similar phrases of the era, such as a "close run thing" or "by a hair's breadth," all using tiny physical measurements to represent a narrow escape.

Why is this funny? In the cartoon we first see a woman who has brought her large hairy dog to the groomers for a summer trim. Then we see a close-up of fleas on the dog jumping away from the electric razor, just barely getting out of the way. The groomer is giving the dog a close shave while the fleas are experiencing a “close shave” by not getting sliced in half!

Sample Sentence: The swerving truck missed our bumper by inches—that was a “close shave!”

CAN'T HOLD A CANDLE TO
Idiomatic Meaning: Someone or something is distinctly inferior, less skilled, or unable to compare favorably to another person or thing or concept. It implies that the person or thing being compared is not even worthy of being in the same room, let alone acting as a rival.

Literal Meaning: In a physical sense some person or object is not capable of gripping or clasping a candle next to someone or something else. The purpose is not clear, though the implication is to provide light, since that is what candle do.

Usage: Formal and informal, spoken and written, British and American English. In form and syntax, the phrase is almost exclusively used in the negative (can't, cannot, or could not). It is rarely used in the positive unless framed as a question ("Can he hold a candle to her?"). In addition, the phrase must always be followed by the preposition “to”.

Origin: 16th Century – British English. The phrase originates from the time before gas or electric lighting, when a master craftsman, scholar, or actor needed someone to stand beside them and hold a candle so they could see to do their highly skilled work. This task fell to the lowest-ranking person in the room—Because holding a candle required absolutely no skill, saying that someone "isn't fit to hold a candle to” a master meant they lacked the competence to perform even the most basic, menial assistant task. The first recorded figurative use of the phrase in print appears in 1641. By the mid-1700s, the phrase evolved from a humble self-deprecation into the sharper, negative idiom we recognize today.

Why is this funny? In the cartoon we see two panels. In the first, people are trying to figure out what to do because the lighting in their room has failed. In the second panel, on the left, we see a man with a flimsy cigarette lighter that provides very little light. On the left a woman, most likely his wife is shining a very bright flashlight on their fuse box, the probable cause of the lights having gone out. Between them stand an older woman, most likely, the man’s mother-in-law, who insults the man’s feeble light in comparison to her daughter’s super shiny light. She implies that his dankly light source “can’t hold a candle” to the flashlight. And literally, since the lighter has no hands, it can’t hold any candle ever, at all!

Sample Sentence: I tried the new Hungarian restaurant down the street, but their goulash doesn't hold a candle to yours."

ON THE FLY
Idiomatic Meaning: Do something quickly, spontaneously, and in real-time while a process is already underway, without prior planning or pausing the activity. It implies adaptability, improvisation, and making snap decisions under time constraints.

Literal Meaning: “Fly” is a short little word with many meanings, both as a noun and a verb. If it’s a noun, it usually refers to the insect. But it can also refer to a fishing lure designed to trick fish into thinking it’s an edible insect. “On the fly” could simply refer to some location on either the real or fake insect.

Usage: Informal, spoken and written, American English. The expression is often heard in several fields, such as computers/technology, restaurants/culinary, automotive and sports. Understanding how to punctuate this phrase depends entirely on how it functions in a sentence: As an Adverbial Phrase (No Hyphens) - When it describes how an action is being performed, it usually comes after the verb and does not use hyphens. As a Compound Adjective (Hyphenated) - When the phrase directly modifies a noun that comes right after it, you must hyphenate it as on-the-fly.

Origin: Mid-19th Century – American English. The phrase originally meant "on the wing," referring to shooting game birds mid-flight. Its modern idiomatic framework comes from 19th-century American baseball. In early baseball terminology, catching a ball directly out of the air before it bounced was called catching it "on the fly." Because catching a ball mid-air required immediate, rapid reaction without any pause, the phrase naturally began to shift into a metaphor for quick, real-time action. The specific baseball usage is heavily documented in print by 1851 and 1856. For example, By the late 1800s, the phrase had entirely crossed over from sports into everyday American slang to mean "in a hurry" or "improvised."

Why is this funny? In the photo we see two fly fishermen standing in a river, using fly rods, specifically designed to use lures, attempting to catch some fish. They are surrounded by flies and other flying sects. The fisherman on the right must not have been having any luck catching fish, so he decided to change lures, spontaneously. He's changing his fly, “on the fly” by working on the fly!

Sample Sentence: The song didn’t sound good in the studio, so the songwriter changed the lyrics “on the fly”.

BLOW SOMEONE OFF
Idiomatic Meaning: Intentionally ignore, dismiss, or disregard a person, their input, or a prior commitment made to them.

Literal Meaning: The verb “blow” in its most common usage means to produce or be moved by a current of air. When the force of the air is strong enough to cause a person or thing standing on a surface higher than the ground or the floor, to be removed from that place.

Usage: Informal, spoken and written, American English. The phrase typically manifests in two ways - Avoiding a social or professional engagement, often at the last minute and without a polite explanation. Also it means to explicitly refuse to acknowledge someone who is trying to interact with you. Note: In British English slang, “blow off” means to “pass air”, i.e. to fart.

Origin: Mid-20th Century – American English. The phrase originally comes from the age of steam locomotives and industrial engines. To prevent a boiler from exploding due to high pressure, engineers had to open a valve to "blow off steam." By the 1850s and 1860s, this gave rise to the figurative idiom "to blow off steam" (venting anger or energy). Soon after, "blow-off" began to refer to any sudden explosion, argument, or a dramatic final confrontation that cleared the air. During the mid-1900s.Early iterations of the phrase appeared in military and theatrical subcultures. In the 1930s and 1940s, the phrase had various underground meanings, but by the 1970s and early 1980s, it firmly took on its current meaning of social rejection or dismissal in print. The broader phrase "to blow off [an obligation]" (like blowing off homework or a meeting) paved the way for directing the action at a person. By the mid-1980s, major publications like The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune routinely captured the phrase in print to describe romantic jilting or social slights.

Why is this funny? In the first panel of the cartoon, we see Jack, from the fairy tale, on top of a beanstalk up in the sky. He wants to see the Giant, but a guard tells him that he busy. We can also see the Giant, behind the guard blowing his breath with all his might at Jack, who can’t resist the gust of air and is about to fall. In the second panel, we see Jack lying flat on his back on the ground. His friends are hovering over him and asking what happened. Jack tells them the giant “blew him off” by refusing to see him and simultaneously blew him off the beanstalk.

Sample Sentence: My blind date never showed up; she “blew me off”.

SLIM TO NONE
Idiomatic Meaning: The probability of a specific event occurring ranges from incredibly microscopic ("slim") to completely non-existent ("none"). It is a rhetorical device called a merism—it frames a spectrum (from a tiny chance down to zero chance) to emphasize that the true likelihood is almost certainly zero.

Literal Meaning: The word “slim” can refer to the appearance of a person or an object, or the do amount or degree of possibility of something occurring. It can also be a nickname of a ver skinny person, usually a male. Thus, the idiom could literally mean that even though some guy who thinks it would be a good nickname for himself, no one else would accept the nickname.

Usage: Informal, spoken and written, American English. The expression is highly versatile because it can function as a complete sentence or act as the predicate of a longer thought. It is used to manage expectations or deliver a blunt, realistic assessment. Business, sports, politics and gambling are the areas where one is most likely to hear the phrase.

Origin: Mid-20th Century – American English. While "slim" has meant "slight" since the 1600s, the specific combination "chances are slim to none" emerged out of mid-20th-century American journalism. First Appearances: The exact phrasing begins popping up in American newspapers in the late 1940s. One early recorded print appearance is found in a 1949 sports column discussing a baseball team's fading pennant hopes, stating that their "chances are slim to none." The Evolution: It evolved naturally from the older phrase "the chances are slim" (common in the 19th century) by adding "to none" for dramatic emphasis. In spoken English, it replaced more formal phrasing like "the chances are negligible." Ironically the terms “fat chance” and “slim chance meant the same thing.

Why is this funny? In the photo, we see a typical carnival midway game where a huckster offers to guess the exact weight of someone for a price and if he guesses wrong the other person will win a stuffed doll. Off to the side we see some boys planning to trick the huckster by putting a fat suit on a very skinny boy. To look at him in the suit, no one would call him skinny. He’s “Slim” to none (no one), and the odds are ”slim to none” that the huckster will guess the boys correct weight.

Sample Sentence: Denmark’s chances of winning the world cup are “slim to none”.