In the past week, I have attended two events that were ‘damper’ than a damp squib. Really! I could not be less impressed with my experience of these. The first was a ‘market’ with about one short line of stalls. The other was a business show with an overwhelming number of people. So thick was the crowd, that you could hardly take a step in front of you.
Extremes
Size wise, you may deduce that I went from one extreme to the other. Nonetheless. Fact remains. A damp squib is the sum total of my experience in each case.
Now let me explain. A ‘damp squib’ is something that fails ignominiously to satisfy expectations; an anti-climax, a disappointment. The term is often mistakenly quoted as damp squid, my guess being that the general populous has more likely heard the word squid, than squib.
Squib, not squid.
A squib is a mild explosive, usually cylindrical in shape with a paper fuse at one end, function at best when dry – as you can well understand. Anyone who, planning for a night of zesty sparks, has lit the blue touch paper only to see the firework phut and fizzle out will know the disappointment of a damp squib.
Silly really, but that is up to you.
How speaking with a forked tongue led prospective content manager astray: Origin of idiom
