A: Did you go to John’s new product launch yesterday? B: No, I haven’t got time for it. What’s up? A: He really had egg on his face after he went on stage to demonstrate the new product and couldn’t get it to work. Note: This idiom means that one has made a serious mistake or done something foolish that leaves him embarrassed. Some people suggested an origin in the lower-class and more rowdy kind of theatrical performance, in which an incompetent actor would have been pelted with eggs and forced off the stage. Others said that it was a comment on a minor social gaffe at a meal, when poor manners or sloppy eating left egg around one’s mouth. |