What are the Origins of the Phrase “Sticks Out Like a Sore Thumb”?
When something sticks out like a sore thumb, it is obviously and clearly out of place. Like many interesting idioms in English, this phrase is used commonly by people who often do not stop to wonder about its origins. After all, nothing about a sore thumb seems particularly remarkable, so it seems odd to think of something sticking out like one, when one pauses to ponder this interesting idiom.
When something sticks out like a sore thumb, it is obviously and clearly out of place. Like many interesting idioms in English, this phrase is used commonly by people who often do not stop to wonder about its origins. After all, nothing about a sore thumb seems particularly remarkable, so it seems odd to think of something sticking out like one, when one pauses to ponder this interesting idiom. Idioms in general are very challenging to language learners, as they rely upon a body of cultural knowledge which may be unfamiliar, and they sometimes use strange sentence structures. The misuse of an idiom sticks out like a sore thumb, tagging someone as a non-native speaker, and as a result non-native speakers are often more curious than others about peculiar turns of phrase.
