The idiom “sticking out like a sore thumb” means something is clearly out of place. It originated in the 16th century and was popularized in the Perry Mason novels. A sore thumb is noticeable due to its protective position and risk of re-injury. Other cultures have their own idioms for things out of place.
When something sticks out like a sore thumb, it’s obviously and clearly out of place. Like many interesting idioms in English, this phrase is commonly used by people who often don’t stop to wonder about its origins. After all, nothing about a sore thumb feels particularly noticeable, so it seems weird to think of something sticking out like one.
Idioms in general are very challenging for language learners, as they draw on a body of cultural knowledge they may not be familiar with and sometimes use strange sentence structures. Improper use of an idiom can label someone a non-native speaker, and as a result, non-native speakers are often more curious than others about particular turns of phrase.
People have been describing unusual things with the phrase “sticking out like a sore thumb” since at least the mid-16th century, and the idiom is probably much older. The phrase also experienced a brief heyday in the 1916s, thanks to its appearance in the popular Perry Mason series of detective novels. There are several explanations for why a particular sore thumb might stick out, as opposed to any other part of the body.
The first explanation is probably obvious to anyone who has ever injured a limb. When sustaining an injury, the natural instinct is to protect the affected limb, and as a result, a sore thumb is often held at a stiff and odd angle that may be obvious to even the casual observer. This is especially true in the case of a sore bandaged thumb, as the bandage will stick out like a flag and make it more difficult to hold the thumb in a natural position. When something stands out like this, it’s hard to hide it from others, just as it’s hard to hide an offense from observers.
In addition to being noticeable to observers, a sore limb also tends to re-injure when held in an awkward position, so it can tend to look like a giant, oversized target. For example, many carpenters have bad fingers that are the result of repeated injuries. The same protective instinct that is designed to cushion an injured limb can actually make it risk-prone, and even more noticeable; sore thumbs stick out just like the lame do, because people change their movements to accommodate them.
There are other colorful ways to say something sticks out like a sore thumb. For example, people have historically said that something looks like a pot of mustard in a coal bucket, a reference to the bright yellow color of the mustard, which would form a striking contrast to the black color of the coal. Many cultures have developed their own distinctive and often imaginative ways of describing something that is clearly out of place, by referring to objects and situations that are universally familiar to people of those cultures.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
