dadburn traffic

9.9

Very slow, annoying traffic that makes you late

noun
/ˈdædˌbɜrn ˈtræfɪk/

Archaic

: maldito tráfico

I can't believe this dadburn traffic!

Examples

If it weren't for the dadburn traffic, we'd have arrived on time.
She couldn't believe how much dadburn traffic there was on a Sunday morning.
I was late to work again thanks to that dadburn traffic.
There was dadburn traffic on the way to work today.
I was stuck in dadburn traffic for an hour on my way home.
The dadburn traffic made me miss my appointment this morning.
They always complain about the dadburn traffic during rush hour.

Synonyms

traffic jam

vsdadburn traffic

35 1.0

Many cars are stuck and move very slowly on a road

focuses on annoyance and uses a mild expletive rather than mere blockage

traffic nightmare

vsdadburn traffic

Informal

1 4.4

A time when many cars move very slowly and cause long delays

expresses the same frustration but adds a mild expletive emphasis

horrendous traffic

vsdadburn traffic

1 3.8

Very bad traffic that makes travel slow and hard

adds playful expletive emphasis rather than only stating extreme severity

traffic delay

vsdadburn traffic

1 2.1

A time when cars and other vehicles move slowly and sometimes stop because of heavy traffic or an accident

highlights annoyance with a playful expletive rather than neutral slowdown

How Annoying

traffic nightmare

Informal

1 4.4

dadburn traffic

Archaic

9.9

traffic

884 1.0

Surface Forms

dadburn traffic singular

dadburn traffics plural

Morphology

dadburn + traffic

The phrase is simply an expletive intensifier ('dadburn') modifying the noun 'traffic'; if a learner knows 'dadburn' as a mild swear/expressive word meaning something like 'damn', the combined meaning ('annoyingly bad/heavy traffic') is directly derivable. The pattern expletive+noun is a common, predictable composition cross-linguistically, so the MWE is transparent to learners who know both constituents.

Etymology

Dadburn traffic comes from the mild curse dadburn, a soft swear people use when they are annoyed. Picture being stuck in a long line of cars and saying 'dadburn' in anger— that's why dadburn traffic means 'annoyingly heavy or frustrating traffic'.