banana skin

banana skin
   a potentially embarrassing or dangerous situation
   Alluding to the supposed tendency of pedestrians to fall over after slipping on those discarded in the street. Journalistic jargon, mainly used of politicians but sometimes of other threatened species:
    Townsend, the Irish captain, is aware of the potential banana skin that awaits his side. {Daily Telegraph, 24 June 1994 — it had to be a large specimen to threaten the entire soccer team, which did indeed slip, losing its match against the Mexicans)

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • banana skin — banana skins 1) N COUNT The thick yellow or green covering of a banana is called a banana skin. [BRIT] (in AM, use banana peel) 2) N COUNT If an important or famous person slips on a banana skin, they say or do something that makes them look… …   English dictionary

  • banana skin — (UK) A banana skin is something that is an embarrassment or causes problems …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • banana skin — noun the skin of a banana (especially when it is stripped off and discarded) he slipped on a banana skin and almost fell • Syn: ↑banana peel • Hypernyms: ↑peel, ↑skin * * * banana skin noun (figurative) Something which causes a slip …   Useful english dictionary

  • banana skin — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms banana skin : singular banana skin plural banana skins British informal something that causes you to make an embarrassing mistake. To slip on a banana skin means to make a mistake …   English dictionary

  • banana skin — (UK)    A banana skin is something that is an embarrassment or causes problems.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • banana skin — noun (C) BrE informal an embarrassing mistake made by someone in a public position, especially a politician or someone in a government: This incident could turn into another banana skin for the government …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • banana skin — ba nana .skin n BrE an embarrassing mistake made by someone in a public position, especially a politician or someone in a government American Equivalent: banana peel ▪ This government has an unhappy knack of slipping on banana skins …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • God’s Great Banana Skin — God’s Great Banana Skin …   Википедия

  • God's Great Banana Skin — Infobox Album | Name = God s Great Banana Skin Type = Album Artist = Chris Rea Released = November 2, 1992 (UK) 1993 (US) Recorded = 1992 Genre = Album oriented rock Length = 55:00 Label = East West Producer = Chris Rea Reviews = *Allmusic… …   Wikipedia

  • (a) banana skin — British something which causes or is very likely to cause embarrassing problems. The new tax has proved to be a banana skin for the government …   New idioms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”