Make a train stop

[greenisgood]

She makes a train stop. Does this mean the person is unattractive or very ugly?

 

[5jj]

It means nothing to me.

 

[bhaisahab]

She makes a train stop. Does this mean the person is unattractive or very ugly?

It doesn't mean anything to me, other than it's literal meaning. Where did you find it?

 

[emsr2d2]

Strangely, when I read your post it rang a bell of some kind though with not exactly the same wording. I Googled "ugly enough to stop a train" expecting to find something which would help me work out what I was thinking of. However, I found nothing useful. Even so, at the back of my mind, something is nigglingly familiar about it.

 

[SoothingDave]

Strangely, when I read your post it rang a bell of some kind though with not exactly the same wording. I Googled "ugly enough to stop a train" expecting to find something which would help me work out what I was thinking of. However, I found nothing useful. Even so, at the back of my mind, something is nigglingly familiar about it.

I just did the same thing. Something about being so ugly that one could stop some form of transportation seems familiar to me, as well.

 

[BobK]

She makes a train stop. Does this mean the person is unattractive or very ugly?

I've met it in American TV dramas. I think it's application is context sensitive. She's extremely <something> attractive, unattactive, whatever. Better wait for an American reply to be sure...

b

 

[billmcd]

I've met it in American TV dramas. I think it's application is context sensitive. She's extremely <something> attractive, unattactive, whatever. Better wait for an American reply to be sure...

b

Yes, in general it refers to description of an unattractive woman and is usually stated as, "she could stop a train". There are thousands of these expressions including some about men e.g. "He's so ugly he has to sneak up on a mirror". :-D

 

[5jj]

Yes, in general it refers to description of an unattractive woman and is usually stated as, "she could stop a train". There are thousands of these expressions including some about men e.g. "He's so ugly he has to sneak up on a mirror". :-D

Would you consider these to be idioms in AmE, or just one-liners in comedy shows?

 

[BobK]

Would you consider these to be idioms in AmE, or just one-liners in comedy shows?

I think that distinction breaks down - so that people start using them idiomatically without any knowledge of their script-written origin. And then TV writers who didn't hear the original script-written version pick it up as if it were an idiom, and write them into their scripts. And so the cycle goes on.... In general, I think it's as well to be aware that such a distinction might exist, but TV is so much a part of modern culture that there are lots of 'feedback loops' like this.

As a Br Eng example, take 'Am I bovvered?' ;-)

b

 

[BobSmith]

I'll weigh in and say these are not common AmE idioms (if at all). My thought is they are playing off of "face that would stop a clock".

 

[billmcd]

Would you consider these to be idioms in AmE, or just one-liners in comedy shows?

Of the ones I've seen and heard they are more one-liners and one of the masters of them was Henny Youngman. Some examples: My wife and I always hold hands. If I let go she shops. My wife got a mudpack and looked great for two days, and then the mud fell off. We went to England. There's a 6 hour time difference. When we went to dinner I felt like sex, when we went to bed I was hungry. The hotel had a waterbed. My wife called it the Dead Sea. ....and the list goes on and on.