Queer As A Clockwork Orange - Wiktionary

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• 1 English Toggle English subsection
  • 1.1 Etymology
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Adjective
    • 1.3.1 Synonyms
    • 1.3.2 Translations
  • 1.4 References

• Entry
• Discussion

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English

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Etymology

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Cockney phrase from East London indicating something bizarre internally, but appearing natural and normal on the surface. Author Anthony Burgess appropriated the phrase for the title of his novella A Clockwork Orange.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Anything more about the origin of the term than 'from East London'?”)

Pronunciation

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• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

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queer as a clockwork orange

1. (simile) Strange, odd, unusual.
2. (simile) Unusually camp, unusually homosexual.
   • 1997, Tony Harrison, quoted in Sandie Byrne's introduction to Tony Harrison: Loiner (ed Sandie Byrne, 1997) He sauntered the flunkied restaurant, queer /As a clockwork orange and not scared. /God, I was grateful for the nights we shared.

Synonyms

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• (both senses): queer as a coot, queer as a nine bob note, queer as a three dollar bill

Translations

[edit] The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked

Serbo-Croatian: споља гладац а унутра јадац Spanish: más raro que un perro verde

References

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• Dominic Head (2002), The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Fiction, 1950-2000: “(footnote) Morrison observes that the title is taken from a Cockney expression, 'as queer as a clockwork orange' which means 'very queer indeed', with or without a sexual implication.”

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=queer_as_a_clockwork_orange&oldid=87501000" Categories:

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