total lamesauce
- noun
- Slang
- When she claimed the dog ate her homework, we all knew it was total lamesauce.
Examples
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His reason for being late was total lamesauce and nobody believed him.
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Calling in sick for the third time this week with that story is total lamesauce.
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That movie's plot twist was total lamesauce, completely ruining the ending for me.
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That excuse was complete total lamesauce.
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I can't believe you think that's total lamesauce!
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His excuse for not finishing the report was total lamesauce, and everyone could see through it.
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After hearing his flimsy reasons, I realized it was just total lamesauce.
Synonyms
A very poor example that shows something is not good
A weak reason someone gives to avoid blame
A weak, unconvincing reason someone gives for not doing something
A weak reason someone gives to avoid blame
A weak reason used so often people no longer believe it
A weak answer that does not explain or convince
A simple idea about why something happened that misses important facts
A very bad excuse that people do not believe
A false or silly story people tell to avoid blame
A false story someone gives to avoid blame
A silly made-up reason someone gives to avoid blame
How Convincing
Surface Forms
Morphology
total + lamesauce
The phrase combines the transparent intensifier 'total' with a nonce/slang compound 'lamesauce' (built from 'lame' + 'sauce'), so a learner who knows 'lame' and 'sauce' can plausibly infer it means something very weak or unconvincing. However, 'lamesauce' is informal, metaphorical and not a standard lexical item, so the precise nuance and acceptability are not fully predictable for a B1 learner unfamiliar with creative slang.
Etymology
Total lamesauce comes from putting together lame (meaning weak or silly) and sauce (something used to make food or a story seem better). Think of a thin, tasteless sauce that cannot hide a bad meal — so a poor, obvious excuse is called total lamesauce, meaning 'a very weak or unconvincing excuse'.