Chicken Sandwich
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Russian Federation
- Current Location
- Netherlands
Major Gowen: Why, I say... I say, Fawlty, he doesn't look, uh... he doesn't look quite the ticket.
Basil Fawlty: Well, Major, um, don't say anything to anybody, but he's dead.
Major Gowen: Ah! Shot, was he?
Basil Fawlty: No, no. No, no. Died in his sleep.
Major Gowen: In his sleep? Ah, well. You're off your guard, you see!
This is from an episode of Fawlty Towers. Major Gowen says, upon seeing the body of a person, that this person in the chair "doesn't look quite the ticket". I have looked up this idiomatic expression and I have only found found "just the ticket", which could mean "to be just the perfect thing" or "exactly what is needed" ( ticket - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. ).
In this context, I would say that it means, "he doesn't look well". Am I right? And if so, I take it that in a different contextm if someone looks tired/yellow/sick that it's also possible to say that "he doesn't look quite the ticket? (I'm often not sure if idioms can be used in a broader context.)
Thank you in advance.
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