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Inappropriateness |
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Inappropriateness See Also: BELONGING
Inappropriateness carry coals to Newcastle To bring something to a place where it is naturally abundant; hence, to do something wholly superfluous or unnecessary. Newcastle lies in the heart of England’s great coal-mining region. The equivalent French expression is porterde Veau à la rivière ‘carry water to the river.’ caviar to the general Something too sophisticated or subtle to be appreciated by hoi-polloi; beyond the taste of the general public. This expression derives from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The play, I remember, pleased not the million; ‘twas caviar to the general. (II, ii) In this line, “general” refers to the general public, the common people. Caviar, of course, is the very expensive gustatory delicacy prepared from sturgeon roe. It is a food appreciated only by those who have acquired a taste for it. send owls to Athens To do something completely useless, unnecessary, or extraneous; to carry coals to Newcastle; also to carry owls to Athens. I may be thought to pour water into the sea, to carry owls to Athens, and to trouble the reader with a matter altogether needless and superfluous. (Henry Swinburne, A Brief Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills, 1590) The owl, as emblem of the Greek goddess Athena, patron of Athens, was naturally plentiful in that area. ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Translations inappropriateness [ˌɪnəˈprəʊprɪɪtnɪs] N [of behaviour] → lo impropio; [of remark] → lo inoportuno; [of dress] → lo poco adecuado or apropiado inappropriateness n → Unpassende(s) nt, → Unangebrachtheit f; (of action also) → Unangemessenheit f; (of time) → Ungünstigkeit f Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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