ham-and-egger
- noun
- /ˈhæm ənd ˈɛɡər/
- Offensive
- Hey, hey, hey, don't get fresh with me, ya little ham-and-egger.
Examples
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If behind ham-and-egger we find Hemingway and Agnes, and behind Nick Black, Nick Nerone, what things are behind the double cross?
Academic text (2017) -
In the final text, the ham and eggs link five of the six main characters - ordered by Max, eaten by Al, served by George, cooked by Sam, and pointing via the "ham-and-egger" pun to Ole Andreson - so that only Nick is left out.
Academic text (2017) -
Finally, the genetic history of "The Killers" confirms that Nick Adams's identification as a ham-and-egger who doesn't "get it" was essential to Hemingway's conception of the story from the start.
Academic text (2017) -
The third rebus in "The Killers" became still more obscured in the published version, but its clarification by way of the text's genetic history confirms how the ham-and-egger and the double cross are both encryptions of the war.
Academic text (2017) -
In terms of the text's hermeneutics, the point of Hemingway's wordplay is precisely its ability to pass unnoticed, which is why the biggest ham-and-egger of them all is the reader's proxy, Nick Adams.
Academic text (2017) -
He always thought of himself as just another ham-and-egger who would never make it big.
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Many people saw him as a ham-and-egger because he never took risks in his career.
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Despite his potential, he became a ham-and-egger content with mediocrity.
Synonyms
A man who is ordinary and not very smart
Antonyms
A person who works very hard and gets better results than expected at school or work
How Ambitious
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word ham-and-egger comes from the simple meal ham and egg, a 'cheap' and 'ordinary' dish, and was used for people who did low-paid or everyday work. A helpful way to remember it is to think of someone who is 'ordinary' or 'unambitious', doing just enough to get by.