| 词源 |
play without a full deck. This expression, and its variant playing with half a deck, dates back to the 1960s, when it was first used to mean someone lacking in intelligence; that is, not having the usual allotment of brains. Besides having the obvi- ous connection with a deck of cards, the phrase owes some- thing to the earlier term not all there, for “stupid,” or mentally defective, attested to as early as 1821. Two sandwiches short of a picnic is a synonym, as is two bricks shy of a load. See also nobody home. |