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so lame

so lame

28 9.5
Very unfunny and not impressive, so people feel disappointed
  • idiom
  • /soʊ leɪm/
  • Slang
translation icon : patético
  • That movie was so lame; I can't believe I wasted two hours on it.
  • Oh, it's so lame
  • sounds so lame
  • so lame, you know

And I my answer is like always no, which is so lame and boring.

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Examples

  • - That is so lame!

  • The reason no one's helping with your paper is because it's so lame.

  • Everything NBC has for next year just looks so lame in comparison.

    Blog text (11)
  • You shouldn't do this because it's so lame.

  • Myspace is so lame now.

    Blog text (31)
  • Sadie said, "That's so lame and immature that you're doing that."

  • It's so lame that we can't go to the concert because it's sold out.

  • Her joke was so lame that nobody laughed.

Synonyms

lame
vsso lame
  • Offensive
350 6.8

Weak and not convincing, often given as an excuse

is used for things that are socially uncool or very unfunny
corny
vsso lame
  • Informal
81 5.8

Not original and trying to be touching but it feels silly

signals dullness or uncoolness rather than intentional sentimentality
really lame
vsso lame
  • Informal
5 7.5

A reason or explanation that is very weak and not believable

is used for social uncoolness rather than only weak explanations
really sucky
vsso lame
  • Slang
1 8.4

Very bad and disappointing to experience

points to being unimpressive or extremely unfunny rather than general poor quality

Antonyms

1.0

Causing people to laugh or smile

584 3.4

Causing people to admire it, like a building or performance, because it is very good

How Lame

pathetic
  • Offensive
702 3.9
so lame
  • Slang
28 9.5
lame
  • Offensive
350 6.8
unimpressive
9 3.9
dull
182 1.3

Surface Forms

so lame positive

Morphology

so + lame

The phrase is fully compositional: 'so' functions as an intensifier and 'lame' means weak/unimpressive, so 'so lame' straightforwardly means 'very unimpressive or unfunny'. This intensifier + adjective pattern is common cross-linguistically and in everyday English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase so lame comes from the word lame, which once described a person who was 'unable to walk' and so looked weak or unable to do much. That's why today we call a boring idea or poor performance lameso lame just means 'very' weak or unimpressive.