person from Porlock
- noun
- Literature
:
persona de Porlock
- The sudden arrival of a person from Porlock during his important meeting caused him to lose focus on the topic.
Examples
-
During her crucial presentation, a person from Porlock interrupted with an irrelevant question, disrupting her flow.
-
This collocation of gardening and writing is confirmed by the allusion to the Person from Porlock and the sudden reactivation of time.
Academic text (1999) -
My Person from Porlock is on the line, talking of time with beginning and end, literal time, monotheist time, for which you are unfailingly charged.
Academic text (1999) -
Just as she was about to make her point, a person from Porlock distracted her with an off-topic story.
Synonyms
2
6.5
A person who interrupts a meeting or event and causes disorder
2
6.5
A person who interrupts people by making noise or causing trouble
1
4.0
A person or thing that stops the normal flow of activity
1
6.0
A person who interrupts a meeting or class and disturbs others
1
8.1
A person who interrupts and makes others lose focus in meetings or plans
1
5.1
Something that takes your attention away from what you should be doing
How Distracting
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a literary allusion (Coleridge's 'person from Porlock') so the literal constituents only indicate someone from a place; they give no clue that the referent is an interruptor or distractor. A B1 learner who knows 'person' and 'from' but not the Coleridge anecdote (or the place name Porlock) would not be able to derive the idiomatic meaning, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Person from Porlock comes from a famous story about the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge: he said a person from the village of Porlock arrived and stopped him while he was writing a poem, so he lost his 'inspiration'. So today person from Porlock means 'a person who interrupts at the wrong moment'.