dead man walking
someone who is in a hopeless situation
TRANSLATION
dead man walking = ein lebender Toter (ein Todeskandidat, der auf Vollstreckung seines Urteils wartet), jmd. in einer hoffnungslosen Situation --- GOOGLE INDEX dead man walking: approximately 600,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
He has been a "DEAD MAN WALKING for many months," said political commentator Peter Plaikner.
(Wall Street Journal)
---
The print industry as we have known it, is a DEAD MAN WALKING.
(Huffington Post)
(Wall Street Journal)
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The print industry as we have known it, is a DEAD MAN WALKING.
(Huffington Post)
Did you
know?
dead man walking
idiom
- someone who is caught in a hopeless situation
- originally used to announce the impending execution of death row inmates in the U.S.
---
In The Green Mile, a novel by Stephen King that was turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks, a prison guard escorts a man wrongly convicted of murder to the execution chamber.
As they walk down the corridor to the electric chair, the guard announces "Dead man walking, we got a dead man walking here." to make the other prisoners aware of what is about to occur.
While it's doubtful that U.S. prison guards still make such announcements these days, this gruesome expression has nonetheless been applied to death row inmates for many years as a type of "gallows humour."
It has been expanded as a euphemism for anyone facing an impending and unavoidable loss. The press enjoys using this expression to describe politicians and well-known business managers who are about to lose their jobs for instance.
But that doesn't mean it can't be used in everyday situations, especially in a humorous fashion. After all, the husband who forgets to buy his wife something for their anniversary could risk becoming a "dead man walking."
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Now that the company has lost money for 3 years in a row, the press is calling the CEO a dead man walking."
---
Thanks to Simona for suggesting today's word!
idiom
- someone who is caught in a hopeless situation
- originally used to announce the impending execution of death row inmates in the U.S.
---
In The Green Mile, a novel by Stephen King that was turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks, a prison guard escorts a man wrongly convicted of murder to the execution chamber.
As they walk down the corridor to the electric chair, the guard announces "Dead man walking, we got a dead man walking here." to make the other prisoners aware of what is about to occur.
While it's doubtful that U.S. prison guards still make such announcements these days, this gruesome expression has nonetheless been applied to death row inmates for many years as a type of "gallows humour."
It has been expanded as a euphemism for anyone facing an impending and unavoidable loss. The press enjoys using this expression to describe politicians and well-known business managers who are about to lose their jobs for instance.
But that doesn't mean it can't be used in everyday situations, especially in a humorous fashion. After all, the husband who forgets to buy his wife something for their anniversary could risk becoming a "dead man walking."
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Now that the company has lost money for 3 years in a row, the press is calling the CEO a dead man walking."
---
Thanks to Simona for suggesting today's word!
