the butt of the joke
Meaning: The person everyone laughs at or makes fun of.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Being the youngest, Leo was always the butt of the joke at family dinners.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A "butt" was the mound of earth behind an archery target, and then the target itself. Shakespeare already used it for an end or aim ("here is my butt" in Othello), and by the 17th century a butt was a person aimed at by jokes.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Le dindon de la farce — literally: The turkey of the stuffing
More idioms — Daily Life
- roll in the hay — To have casual sex.
- pull an all-nighter — To stay up all night, usually to study or work.
- the gospel truth — Something absolutely true.
- sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me — Insults cannot really harm you, so they are best ignored.
- know someone in the biblical sense — To have had sex with someone.
- a last stand — A final, determined effort to resist, usually when defeat is likely.
More English idioms
- Aunt Flo is visiting — A euphemism for having one's menstrual period.
- thick as a brick — Very stupid.
- shed light on — To help explain something or make it clearer.
- laugh one's head off — To laugh very loudly and for a long time.
- blow a gale — Of the wind: to blow extremely hard.
- drunk as a skunk — Extremely drunk.
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