Cheese fallen off your cracker?

[Jonathan Lighter]

I heard "not the sharpest knife in the drawer" in the early to mid '90s.  "A few bricks short of a pile" has been around for maybe 30 years. "A few sandwiches short of a picnic" showed up just a few years back, in my experience.  "Lights are on, nobody home" : early '80s?

JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: Cheese fallen off your cracker?
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>on 3/3/05 3:20 am, Jonathan Lighter at wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>> Subject: Re: Cheese fallen off your cracker?
>>
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>--> -
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>> From "Cliches (Was Re: Schoolhouse Ro)," rec.humor, April 15, 1991 :
>>
>> He's not running on all 8 cylinders.
>>
>> Doesn't have both oars in the water.
>>

The gold standard for me is still "a few french fries short of a
happy meal". I recall posting a compilation of "short-ofs" (taken
from a web site devoted to the topic) a few years ago that should be
archived.

> > JL, not familiar with any of these.
>>
>
>How about:
>
>Two prawns short of a barbie
>
>A few slabs short of a patio
>
>- Neil Crawford

And of course the process is productive. In _The Burglar on the
Prowl_ (2004), Lawrence Block has his burglar-narrator come up with
this one, in reference to an unethical philandering plastic surgeon
who gets himself into some very serious trouble by his own arrogant
oversights:

"And he showed her Cuckoo's picture anyway?" Ray said. "Not too
bright, is he, Bernie?"
"Not the sharpest scalpel in the autoclave", I allowed, "but..."


Larry


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