nobody home! Knocking themselves on the head, people sometimes say Nobody home! or Nobody’s home upstairs! after forgetting something or after making a foolish statement. This is not contemporary slang, but dates back to the 1700s and an epigram of Alexander Pope’s called “The Empty House”: You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come: Knock as you please, there’s nobody at home. A more modern equivalent is “The lights are on, but nobody’s home.” |