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A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one thing is actually offered. The term is often used to describe an illusion that choices are available. The best known Hobson's choice is "I'll give you a choice: take it or leave it", wherein "leaving it" is strongly undesirable. The phrase is said to have originated with Thomas Hobson (1544 ...
The expression is pre-dated by an anecdote in the 1875 Our Bishops and Deans by the Reverend F. Arnold, referenced in an issue of The Academy: A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and Art: "Without pledging our credence, we could afford a grin to the story of the 'young Levite' who at a bishop's breakfast-table, was so 'umble as to decline the replacement of a bad egg by a good one with a ...
A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial phrase as:
A common meaning of the phrase is that wrongdoings or evil actions are often undertaken with good intentions; or that good intentions, when acted upon, may have bad consequences. [2] An example is the introduction of Asian carp into the United States in the 1970s to control algal blooms in captivity. Within ten years, the carp escaped and ...
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
Good is a broad concept often associated with life, charity, continuity, happiness, love, or justice. Evil is often associated with conscious and deliberate wrongdoing, discrimination designed to harm others, humiliation of people designed to diminish their psychological needs and dignity, destructiveness, and acts of unnecessary or ...
Birds of a feather flock together is an English proverb. The meaning is that beings (typically humans) of similar type, interest, personality, character, or other distinctive attribute tend to mutually associate. The idiom is sometimes spoken or written as an anapodoton, where only the first part ("Birds of a feather") is given and the second ...
Jack of all trades. " Jack of all trades, master of none " is a figure of speech used in reference to a person who has dabbled in many skills, rather than gaining expertise by focusing on only one. The original version, " a jack of all trades ", is often used as a compliment for a person who is good at fixing things and has a good level of ...