as popular as a coldsore

[meliss]

Hi. Does it mean really popular or quite the contrary? Thank you.
" In retrospect, AS Byatt might have been the wrong person for the New York Times to commission to appraise the series’ success. “Ms Rowling’s world is a secondary secondary world, made up of intelligently patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of children’s literature,” she wrote in apparent bafflement. “It is written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip.” She wasn’t being intentionally bitchy, only rigorous, but it made her about as popular as a coldsore with the true believers." (The Guardian)

 

[andrewg927]

Do you know what a cold sore is? You should find out what it is first and then try to draw a conclusion. ;-)

 

[meliss]

Dear andrewg927, be sure, if you ask me a question, I won't answer you with another question. And yes, I know what a cold sore is. I just wonder if the word "popular" could mean here something like common, frequently encountered...

 

[GoesStation]

Answering a post with a question is often an attempt to use the Socratic method to guide the student towards finding the answer. To understand the expression you're asking about, you have to realize it's sarcastic; as popular as a cold sore is extremely unpopular.

 

[Tdol]

Cold sores are not good, so it is meant to be negative.