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Glite Dictionary
Cabot Cove syndrome

Cabot Cove syndrome

9.9
A joking name for a small town where many crimes or strange events happen
  • noun
  • /ˈkæbət koʊv ˈsɪnˌdroʊm/
  • Literature
translation icon : síndrome de Cabot Cove
  • The book's setting suffered from Cabot Cove syndrome, with a new murder mystery every week.

Examples

  • Residents often joke that their town experiences Cabot Cove syndrome, as there seems to be a new mystery every week.

  • After three break-ins in a month, the neighbors began referring to their neighborhood as suffering from Cabot Cove syndrome.

  • At work, we laughed about our constant troubles as a kind of Cabot Cove syndrome.

  • Ever since she moved to that quiet village, she joked it was developing Cabot Cove syndrome.

  • The small town has a Cabot Cove syndrome.

  • Don't you think they have Cabot Cove syndrome?

  • The local detective sighed, realizing that the small community was plagued by Cabot Cove syndrome with its frequent dramatic events.

Surface Forms

Cabot Cove syndrome singular
Cabot Cove syndromes plural

Morphology

Cabot + Cove + syndrome

This is a culture-specific label built on a proper-name reference (the fictional town 'Cabot Cove') plus 'syndrome'; knowing 'cove' and 'syndrome' does not let a learner infer the specific meaning of frequent dramatic/criminal events without knowing the TV reference. The metaphorical or humorous usage depends on world knowledge and convention rather than compositional semantics, so the expression is not derivable from its parts for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Cabot Cove syndrome comes from a TV town called Cabot Cove where a new murder or dramatic event seemed to happen in almost every episode of the show 'Murder, She Wrote'. So, the phrase jokingly means 'a small place that has too many crimes or dramas', which is why people use it for towns or settings with constant trouble.