Department of the Bleeding Obvious
- idiom
- Slang
:
Departamento de lo Obvio
- Her comment about water being wet came directly from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious.
Examples
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His report, stating that fire is hot, belongs in the Department of the Bleeding Obvious.
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That's a classic case for the Department of the Bleeding Obvious!
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If you just realized you need a ticket to travel, that's a finding worthy of the Department of the Bleeding Obvious.
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The report from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious was unnecessary.
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Her comment about water being wet came directly from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious.
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His report, stating that fire is hot, belongs in the Department of the Bleeding Obvious.
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If you just realized you need a ticket to travel, that's a finding worthy of the Department of the Bleeding Obvious.
Synonyms
11
5.7
A very obvious true statement that is not worth saying
1
5.7
A clear fact that needs no proof or explanation
Surface Forms
Morphology
department + of + the + Bleeding + obvious
The composition 'department' + 'of the' + 'obvious' is largely transparent: a unit concerned with things that are obvious, so a learner could guess it's a mock label for stating self-evident facts. However, 'bleeding' here is an informal/intensifying slang (sarcastic 'very obvious') and the humorous/sarcastic framing ('Department of the ...') relies on pragmatic knowledge, so a B1 learner who only knows the literal meanings may not fully get the intended sense.
Etymology
Department of the Bleeding Obvious imagines a funny, fake office that only deals with things everyone already knows. The strong word bleeding here just means 'very', so the name pokes fun at statements that are 'very obvious'. That's why people use it to call a comment that says what everyone already knows.