Timeline for Are there figurative English proverbs (or idioms) to mean an expert (or likely winner) makes a great mistake?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
24 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5, 2018 at 0:30 | comment | added | Superbest | The first idiom, about the experts hands, sounds like it means something different: Even if the expert attains the apex of his art, that does not elevate to divine or superhuman status. Presumably the expert is expert at something other than having really watertight hands, so it is irrational to expect that just because of his expertise in a different domain, his hands will not leak. A crass English-speaker might say "his shit stinks same as mine". | |
| Mar 14, 2017 at 4:21 | comment | added | MissMonicaE | Man, what about about "It happens to the best of us"? | |
| Sep 19, 2015 at 0:51 | vote | accept | Yoichi Oishi | ||
| Sep 15, 2015 at 17:47 | answer | added | Scribblemacher | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 15, 2015 at 15:35 | comment | added | James Webster | I feel there is an idiom referencing the Tortoise and the Hare fable, but I can't put my finger on it. | |
| Sep 15, 2015 at 9:01 | history | protected | CommunityBot | ||
| Sep 15, 2015 at 8:00 | comment | added | Tobia Tesan | The expresssion "dark horse" means the opposite: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_horse | |
| Sep 15, 2015 at 2:29 | answer | added | JHCL | timeline score: 4 | |
| Sep 15, 2015 at 0:14 | comment | added | Hot Licks | "Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" is my favorite. | |
| Sep 15, 2015 at 0:13 | answer | added | Loretta Hendy | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 15, 2015 at 0:11 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackEnglish/status/643577868350529537 | ||
| Sep 14, 2015 at 23:09 | answer | added | robert | timeline score: 0 | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 23:01 | answer | added | Tim Lymington | timeline score: 8 | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 22:40 | answer | added | Papa Poule | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 21:56 | comment | added | Graffito | Oscar Wilde defined an expert as "An ordinary man away from home giving advice". | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 21:34 | answer | added | actinidia | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 21:07 | history | edited | Yoichi Oishi | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 46 characters in body
|
| Sep 14, 2015 at 19:34 | comment | added | John Lawler | Even Jove nods. | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 19:26 | answer | added | Kristina Lopez | timeline score: 11 | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 19:22 | comment | added | vstrong | Similar to @chaslyfromUK's suggestion: "how the mighty have fallen!" This is disparaging and would be said if the person who made the mistake had been overconfident/a braggart, not simply for an unexpected result. | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 19:10 | answer | added | user66974 | timeline score: 5 | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 19:09 | comment | added | chasly - supports Monica | It's not quite the same but here's one, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall' --> usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/… | |
| Sep 14, 2015 at 19:06 | history | edited | Yoichi Oishi | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 1 character in body
|
| Sep 14, 2015 at 19:00 | history | asked | Yoichi Oishi | CC BY-SA 3.0 |