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Glite Dictionary
to fall from the ugly stick

to fall from the ugly stick

9.9
To look much less attractive after a sudden change
  • idiom
  • Offensive
translation icon : verse muy feo (ofensivo, coloquial)
  • After his disastrous haircut, everyone agreed he must have fallen from the ugly stick.

Examples

  • She used to be quite fashionable, but lately it seems like she fell from the ugly stick.

  • The internet trolls told him he had fallen from the ugly stick, which was just mean.

  • Don't fall from the ugly stick!

  • She didn't just fall from the ugly stick, she rolled down the hill!

  • After her breakup, it seemed like she had fallen from the ugly stick with her disheveled appearance.

  • He used to be handsome, but lately he looks like he fell from the ugly stick.

  • When I saw him at the reunion, I couldn't believe he had fallen from the ugly stick since high school.

Synonyms

hit with the ugly stick
vsto fall from the ugly stick
  • Offensive
1 9.9

To call someone ugly as a joke

implies becoming suddenly unattractive rather than simply insulting appearance
fell out of the ugly tree
vsto fall from the ugly stick
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A joking way to say that someone looks very ugly

suggests a change to looking unattractive rather than a permanent state
beat with the ugly stick
vsto fall from the ugly stick
  • Offensive
9.9

A person or thing that looks very ugly, said as a joke

focuses on sudden appearance of unattractiveness not just a general insult

How Unattractive

ugly
  • Offensive
1 2.0
to fall from the ugly stick
  • Offensive
9.9
plain
50 2.5

Surface Forms

fall from the ugly stick infinitive
falling from the ugly stick present participle
falls from the ugly stick third person singular
fell from the ugly stick past
fallen from the ugly stick past participle

Morphology

fall + from + the + ugly + stick

The components 'fall' (change/state from) and 'ugly' (unattractive) give a clear clue that the phrase means to become or appear unattractive, so a learner who knows the words can often infer the general idea. However, 'ugly stick' is a slang, metaphorical image (an instrument that makes one ugly) and the fixed, cultural idiom is not fully predictable, making the expression only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Fall from the ugly stick may come from a playful image: imagine someone literally falling from an ugly stick that makes them ugly. That's why the phrase means 'to look or seem suddenly less attractive'.