[Idiom] idioms meaning "very dull, very boring"

[Olenek]

Hi,

In my dictionary I've found two idioms meaning "very dull, very boring":

To be dry as dust,
To be dull as ditch water/dish water.

I'm not sure but I think that the 1st one is usually used as "To be dry as a bone" referred to something very dry (for example, bread).

What do you think of both phrases?

Which idiom do you use/ hear with the sense "dull, boring"?

Many thanks for all your answers! :up:

 

[freezeframe]

Hi,

In my dictionary I've found two idioms meaning "very dull, very boring":

To be dry as dust,
To be dull as ditch water/dish water.

I'm not sure but I think that the 1st one is usually used as "To be dry as a bone" referred to something very dry (for example, bread).

What do you think of both phrases?

Which idiom do you use/ hear with the sense "dull, boring"?

Many thanks for all your answers! :up:

Never use either of the ones you mentioned.

If something is boring it's "like watching paint dry" or "like watching grass grow".
Something boring is also lame (this is more of a slang and also means stupid) and mind-numbing.

Another variation on "lame" is "lame ass" -- "Can we leave? This movie is so lame ass" :-D

 

[JMurray]

To be dry as dust,
To be dull as ditch water/dish water.

Olenek.
To say that a lecture, for example, was "as dry as dust" doesn't necessarily mean that it was boring in its content, but that it was delivered in a very academic and perhaps humourless style. A book may have a "dry as dust" style and yet the content may still be very interesting.

I've often heard "as dull as dishwater" for describing a boring person or book. I've never heard "ditch water". The familiar flat greyness of used dishwater seems more appropriate.

As freezeframe suggests, "like watching paint dry/grass grow" are both widely used.

Sometimes a film/book/event etc is described as "mind-numbingly boring" or a "snooze-fest", "snore-fest" or "yawn-fest".
It might also be a "cure for insomnia", and a boring person might sarcastically be called "Mr Excitement".

Things that happen when you're bored:
Your eyes glaze over.
Your mind wanders.
Your brain goes numb.
You say "please wake me when it's over"
... and you nod off.

p.s. I forgot about being "bored stiff" and "bored rigid".

 

[Tdol]

Dull as ditchwater is used in the UK.

 

[freezeframe]

bored out of my mind
bored to death

 

[freezeframe]

also something/someone can be "boring as hell" or they/it can "put you to sleep"

 

[JMurray]

"boring as batsh*t"
"deathly/deadly dull"

"bored to tears"
"bored silly"
.. or as Iggy Pop once sang:
"I'm bored, I'm the chairman of the bored".