Idiom

[Operario]

Hi. I'm looking for an idiom that conveys the following idea: "someone who doesn't want to be the only different one among his friends". Someone who doesn't want to be the "ugly duckling", you know... all your friends are like this or like that, so you have to be like that too. If possible, I'd like an idiom that is is not too ​informal.

Thank you very much!

 

[charliedeut]

I would speak of someone who doesn't want to stand out (even if that's a phrasal verb rather than an idiom).

charliedeut

 

[englishhobby]

A black sheep?

 

[charliedeut]

A black sheep?

:up: Of course, how obvious, silly me!

 

[bhaisahab]

:up: Of course, how obvious, silly me!

No, "black sheep" doesn't work. I can't think of any idiom that would at the moment.

 

[Operario]

Thanks guys, but I don't think "black sheep" will suffice either. And stand out... well, I kind of think of it as "neutral". I'm looking for an idiom that specifically means someone who doesn't want to attract negative attention.

 

[Getemjan]

What's wrong with the expression "ugly duckling"? It seems to serve your purpose.

In my younger days (long ago!), we said that we wanted to be "in with the In Crowd." Now that's an old idiom!

 

[Operario]

What's wrong with the expression "ugly duckling"? It seems to serve your purpose.

In my younger days (long ago!), we said that we wanted to be "in with the In Crowd." Now that's an old idiom!

I just think it's a really beaten up expression. I'd rather go with something a little more original. The expression you brought up is not bad, not bad at all. Is it really "In with the In Crowd", or is there an extra "in" there ?

 

[Rover_KE]

He didn't want to be a fish out of water.

 

[emsr2d2]

I just think it's a really beaten up expression. I'd rather go with something a little more original. The expression you brought up is not bad, not bad at all. Is it really "In with the In Crowd", or is there an extra "in" there ?

"In" quite correctly appears twice in that idiom.

In with = belong to the same group as/be associated with/be friends with
the "In" crowd = the trendy people

 

[Rover_KE]

Why don't we coin our own idioms?

I'll make a start:

'He didn't want to feel like a pork pie in a rabbi's picnic basket.'

We could have a lot of fun with this.

Rover

 

[Barb_D]

I'd like to go on record saying that for me "ugly duckling" doesn't work at all. The ugly duckling already didn't fit in, and when he grew up, he was a different species entirely. There's no way an ugly duckling can be used to describe someone who wants to remain the same as his friends.

 

[bhaisahab]

Why don't we coin our own idioms?

I'll make a start:

'He didn't want to feel like a pork pie in a rabbi's picnic basket.'

We could have a lot of fun with this.

Rover

On first reading I saw "in a rabbit's picnic basket". ;-)

 

[englishhobby]

He's an odd duck. = (Brit) He's an odd fish. [=he's a very strange person] (from Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary )

 

[charliedeut]

Why don't we coin our own idioms?

I'll make a start:

'He didn't want to feel like a pork pie in a rabbi's picnic basket.'

We could have a lot of fun with this.

Rover

I'll go on with it:

He didn't want to feel like a nun in a brothel. (Let's see if anyone else feels like contributing ;-))

 

[Shoreditch]

Square peg in a round hole? That he does not want to be?

 

[emsr2d2]

Much as I'm enjoying the creation of various idioms which mean that someone is the odd one out amongst his/her friends, I think we have veered off the track of the OP's original question. There is nothing in post #1 to suggest that the person concerned is different. He/she just wants to be/remain the same as everyone else, and doesn't want to stand out. The only word I can think of is "conformist".