IdiomDaily LifeEnglish

the butt of the joke

Meaning: The person everyone laughs at or makes fun of.

Example: “Being the youngest, Leo was always the butt of the joke at family dinners.”

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.

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