a smart aleck
Meaning: An annoying person who shows off how clever they are.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Some smart aleck in the back corrected the teacher's spelling.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: American English from the mid-19th century. It is sometimes linked to a 1840s New York swindler named Aleck Hoag, but that story is not proven.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Faire le mariole — literally: To play the mariole
More idioms — Daily Life
- let things ride — To let a situation continue without interfering.
- don't push your luck — Don't risk ruining a good situation by asking for more.
- on the house — Free, paid for by the business.
- make a song and dance about — To make an unnecessary fuss about something.
- wide of the mark — Inaccurate or irrelevant.
- flat out — As fast or as hard as possible.
More English idioms
- what have you been smoking? — Said to someone whose idea sounds crazy.
- throw one's weight around — To use one's power or importance in an overbearing way.
- yada yada yada — And so on; skipping boring details.
- swap spit — To kiss passionately (slang).
- hit the wall — To suddenly run out of energy.
- grab a bite — To eat something quickly.
From our tongue twisters
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
- Unique New York. — Three words that jam the 'y/n/k' sequence together — repeat it and it collapses into 'you…
- Pad kid poured curd pulled cod. — Alternating repetition — the consonants swap at the start of every other word, which is w…