one-way ticket to Palookaville
- idiom
- Archaic
:
camino hacia el fracaso
- Quitting school with no backup plan is a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
Examples
-
Investing in that scheme is like buying a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
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Trusting someone so unreliable is just asking for a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
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His refusal to accept change was practically a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
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He feels that starting a business without a plan is a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
-
Quitting school without a plan is a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
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Not saving money for emergencies can lead to a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
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Ignoring warning signs in a relationship is a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
Synonyms
12
7.2
A task that has no chance of success
4
4.3
A situation very likely to cause serious trouble
Antonyms
How Likely
- Archaic
- Informal
4
4.3
1
6.3
7
5.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
one-way + ticket + to + Palookaville
A B1 learner who knows 'one-way' and 'ticket' can infer an irreversible journey — the compositional part ('one-way ticket to X') is transparent. However, 'Palookaville' is a slang/proper-name with a culturally specific negative sense (a place of failure/oblivion) that is not predictable from its parts, so the evaluative meaning 'certain to lead to failure or serious trouble' requires prior exposure. Because part of the meaning is derivable (irreversibility) but the critical negative sense is idiomatic and culture-bound, the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
One-way ticket to Palookaville gives a clear image: a one-way ticket means you cannot go back, and Palookaville is a made-up town name for a dead-end or loser place. That's why it means an action that will lead straight to 'failure' or big trouble.