mayonnaise face
- noun
- Offensive
:
[insulto informal por cara pálida]
- People joked that after the long winter indoors, she turned into a mayonnaise face.
Examples
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In the harsh fluorescent light, everyone looked like a mayonnaise face.
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He was tired of his friends calling him a mayonnaise face every time he skipped the beach.
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Don't look like a mayonnaise face!
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You have a mayonnaise face today.
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After being cooped up all winter, his friends teased him about his mayonnaise face when they finally went out in the sun.
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The comedian made everyone laugh by pointing out that his pale complexion made him look like a mayonnaise face on stage.
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She joked that selfies were her worst enemy because they highlighted her mayonnaise face, especially in the winter months.
How Pale
Surface Forms
Morphology
mayonnaise + face
The phrase combines 'mayonnaise' (a pale-white condiment) with 'face' so the meaning 'a face like mayonnaise' — i.e. very pale or unhealthy-looking complexion — is directly inferable from the constituents. This straightforward appearance/color comparison is compositional and likely accessible to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Mayonnaise face comes from a simple picture of someone's skin looking pale and creamy like mayonnaise in a jar, a funny way people used to tease someone who looked very pale or a bit sick. So, it now means 'a pale or unhealthy complexion'.