fart in the elevator
- idiom
- NSFW
:
pedo en el ascensor
- It was the classic case of a fart in the elevator—no one wanted to take credit.
Examples
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The awkward silence after his fart in the elevator made everyone laugh.
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Telling a story about a fart in the elevator broke the ice at the party.
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That was an awkward fart in the elevator!
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Everyone laughed at the fart in the elevator yesterday.
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It was the classic case of a fart in the elevator—no one wanted to take credit.
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Telling a story about a fart in the elevator broke the ice at the party.
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The awkward silence after his fart in the elevator made everyone laugh.
Synonyms
12
7.7
To let gas pass out through the bottom of the body
A funny image of trapped gas making a sealed suit smell bad
A sound made when someone passes gas while sitting
How Embarrassing
- NSFW
- NSFW
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: a learner who knows 'fart' (to release gas), 'in' (inside) and 'elevator' will immediately infer 'passing gas inside an elevator', including the humorous/embarrassing pragmatic component. This is a literal, cross-linguistically common construction rather than an idiom, so it is readily understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Fart in the elevator comes from the clear picture of someone letting out a fart in a small, closed elevator with other people. The tight space makes the sound or smell obvious, so the moment feels 'awkward' or 'embarrassing', and so the phrase now means a funny or 'embarrassing' moment in a small place.