Johnny语法博客:便宜货 Mickey Mouse
2009-11-19 11:24
Mickey Mouse
I was watching TV the other day and I heard someone describe a new computer they had bought as Mickey Mouse.
“I bought this Mickey Mouse computer the other day – it only cost me a hundred pounds.”
I’m sure you know Mickey Mouse the Disney character, but what about Mickey Mouse the adjective?
The adjective sense actually developed during the Second World War, after a large quantity of low quality counterfeit Mickey Mouse watches flooded the UK and from then on anything that was seen to be cheap, of a low quality or unsophisticated was described as Mickey Mouse!
Vocabulary:
Mickey Mouse (adj.) - cheap, low quality
counterfeit (adj.) - fake, an illegal copy
flooded the UK - not literally a flood, but watches appeared in large numbers all over the UK
(Source: www.englishonline.org.cn)
Johnny Grammar is English Online's resident grammar teacher. Johnny loves to tackle your worst grammar nightmares and provide you with simple explanations.
Johnny's blog: Johnny talks about interesting words and expressions in English that he comes across in his daily life.