she was sent to Coventry
she was ignored by other people
TRANSLATION
to be sent to Coventry = verbannen; verfemen; jmdn. ächten; jmdn. ausschließen
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
In Bristol, education officials advised teachers not to "punish or humiliate" bullies* and to adopt a "no-blame" policy.
All this is complete madness. There has always been bullying in school but 40 years ago it was usually confined to name-calling or BEING SENT TO COVENTRY. Bad enough, perhaps, but nothing like the violence which defines "bullying" today.
(The Scotsman - 28th November 2005)
* bullying = Mobbing
All this is complete madness. There has always been bullying in school but 40 years ago it was usually confined to name-calling or BEING SENT TO COVENTRY. Bad enough, perhaps, but nothing like the violence which defines "bullying" today.
(The Scotsman - 28th November 2005)
* bullying = Mobbing
Did you
know?
to be sent to Coventry (Brit. English)
: to be socially ignored, ostracised
(ostracise = verbannen; jmdn. ausschließen)
Synonym:
to give someone the cold shoulder
Origin:
It is very probable that the Warwickshire city is the source of this expression for someone who has been ostracised. I say that with some care because there are at least two theories about where it came from. All of them do point to the city of Coventry, but none of them can be substantiated.
The idiom is first recorded in 1765, but it is generally taken to refer to events during the English Civil Wars of the 1640s between forces loyal to the King and those loyal to Parliament.
The first appearance of the phrase is in 1647, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England by Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon, though the author is using the phrase in a literal, not a figurative sense. He says that Royalist troops who were captured in Birmingham (then a small town, not the great city that grew up later on the back of the Industrial Revolution) were taken for security to Coventry, a Parliamentarian stronghold. Understandably, they were not welcome.
Another story, undated but usually taken to refer to events of a similar period, is that Coventry was strongly opposed to having troops billeted on townspeople, and that soldiers sent there were ostracised by the local population.
Take your pick. My own feeling is that neither is convincing, not least because of the century-long gap between Civil War events and the first appearance of the idiom—not impossible, though.
Michael Quinion - World-Wide Words
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"It is a shame that the pleasant town of Coventry is associated with negative human behaviour"
: to be socially ignored, ostracised
(ostracise = verbannen; jmdn. ausschließen)
Synonym:
to give someone the cold shoulder
Origin:
It is very probable that the Warwickshire city is the source of this expression for someone who has been ostracised. I say that with some care because there are at least two theories about where it came from. All of them do point to the city of Coventry, but none of them can be substantiated.
The idiom is first recorded in 1765, but it is generally taken to refer to events during the English Civil Wars of the 1640s between forces loyal to the King and those loyal to Parliament.
The first appearance of the phrase is in 1647, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England by Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon, though the author is using the phrase in a literal, not a figurative sense. He says that Royalist troops who were captured in Birmingham (then a small town, not the great city that grew up later on the back of the Industrial Revolution) were taken for security to Coventry, a Parliamentarian stronghold. Understandably, they were not welcome.
Another story, undated but usually taken to refer to events of a similar period, is that Coventry was strongly opposed to having troops billeted on townspeople, and that soldiers sent there were ostracised by the local population.
Take your pick. My own feeling is that neither is convincing, not least because of the century-long gap between Civil War events and the first appearance of the idiom—not impossible, though.
Michael Quinion - World-Wide Words
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"It is a shame that the pleasant town of Coventry is associated with negative human behaviour"
