Etymology Journal ยท G
Got two left feet
Meaning
- A cheeky way of saying someone is terribly clumsy or cannot dance to save their life. It suggests they lack the coordination to move gracefully.
Playful, teasing
Used in a sentence
- I should probably sit this dance out since I have two left feet.
- Watching him try to navigate the dance floor is painful because he has two left feet.
- She loves music but admits she has two left feet when it comes to ballroom dancing.
The backstory
This is a classic idiomatic expression that has been around since at least the early 1900s. It relies on the literal impossibility of having two identical feet as a metaphor for physical ineptitude.
Heard in
Nationwide
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