poor

Behavior or actions that are considered socially inappropriate, distasteful, or rude. It is generally acknowledged that pointing out a person's flaws in public is quite poor form.

Having the majority of one's income going towards the high costs of one's home, such as mortgage or rent, property tax, utilities, etc., leaving very little money remaining for other expenditures. I love our home, but neither of us can really afford this high rent, and it's making us rather house poor as a result.

Owning a large amount of land that is unprofitable and being without the means to maintain it or capitalize on its fertility. My fool of a husband used our savings to buy a big plot of land out west, and we've been land-poor for the last 10 years as a result.

A traditional sandwich from New Orleans, Louisiana, made with a long roll of French bread and containing a variety of fillings, almost always with some kind of meat or fried seafood. ("Po' boy" being short for "poor boy," supposedly referring to striking workers in 1929 to whom a local restaurant served such sandwiches.) Primarily heard in US. Ever since leaving New Orleans to go to college, I can't stop craving a proper roast beef po' boy from back home. I'm ordering a dozen po' boys for the party, so if you have any food allergies, let me know this afternoon.

If someone performs a job or task poorly or unsuccessfully, he or she will usually lay the blame on the quality of his or her equipment, or other such external factors, rather than take responsibility for his or her own failure. After John spent all day assembling his new desk only to discover it was lopsided, he immediately declared that the package must have contained the wrong pieces. His wife replied, "only poor craftsmen blame their tools, dear."

A less desirable substitute for the genuine item. The local artist became known as the poor man's Picasso. I was happy with my new car, even though my friends called it a poor man's Jaguar.

A less desirable substitute for the genuine item. The cheap motorcycle jacket I bought is nice, but it is a poor relation of actual leather.

To have little to no money. Now that we're paying a mortgage, we're as poor as church mice.

rude; vulgar; obscene. Mrs. Franklin felt that your joke was in bad taste. We found the play to be in poor taste, so we walked out in the middle of the second act.

Prov. Even a habitually sad person cannot be sad all the time. (Sometimes used to indicate that a habitually sad person is happy about something.) Jill: I've never seen Sam smile before, but today, at his retirement party, he smiled. Jane: It is a poor heart that never rejoices.

Rur. land where nothing will grow. I inherited two hundred acres from my uncle, but it's land so poor it wouldn't even raise a fuss. The soil's exhausted. That land is so poor it wouldn't even raise a fuss. Jill can grow a garden anywhere, even on land too poor to raise a racket on.

Prov. Rich people are sometimes able to escape without punishment when they commit crimes, while poor people are usually punished. It doesn't seem fair—rich people can avoid paying their taxes and not get in trouble, but poor people are always punished if they don't pay. We shouldn't have one law for the rich and another for the poor.

very poor. (*Also: as ~.) My aunt is as poor as a church mouse. The Browns are poor as church mice.

Cliché having little money but clean and of good habits, nonetheless. (Either extremely condescending or jocular. Some people would consider it offensive.) My salary isn't very high, and I only have one old car. Anyway, I'm poor but clean. When Fred uttered the phrase "poor but clean" in reference to some of the people working in the yard, Ellen went into a rage.

extremely poor Most of the population in this undeveloped area were dirt-poor and jobless.

someone or something that is similar to a well-known person or thing but is not as good He was only ever a mediocre singer - they used to call him 'the poor man's Frank Sinatra'. 'So what did you think of the film?' 'It was just a poor man's 'Pulp Fiction'.'

someone or something that is believed to be less important than another similar person or thing Video, once seen as the poor relation of cinema, is now a major source of revenue for film companies.

to be very poor When we first got married, we were as poor as church mice.

Having little or no wealth and few possessions, as in She's poor as a churchmouse, so you can't expect her to donate anything. The reason for this long-used simile is unclear, but most believe that, since churches are not known for storing food, a mouse inside one would fare poorly. It has survived such earlier phrases as poor as Job. [Second half of 1600s]

An inferior member of a group, as in Many regard Turkey as the poor relation in the European alliance. This expression, first recorded in 1720 for a family member in humble circumstances, began to be used figuratively in the mid-1900s.

Also, in bad taste. Not suitable, unseemly, offensive, as in His criticism of the Pope was in poor taste, or That television interview was in very bad taste. These idioms use taste in the sense of "discernment of what is appropriate."

Poverty-stricken. The biblical Job's hardships did not bode well for any barnyard creatures that depended on him for sustenance. This wonderfully descriptive old Southern phrase says all that needs to be said about someone in dire financial straits.

Unhappy heiress. In contrast to Job's turkey, the subject of this phrase wants for nothing—except emotional support. The original “poor little rich girl” was socialite Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth (“Five and Dime” stores) and E. F. Hutton investment banking fortunes. She had a lonely childhood, seven failed— and in many cases, exploitive—marriages, and died a broken (and nearly broke) woman at age sixty-six. The phrase has been applied to other women whose lives were sad in spite (or perhaps because of inherited wealth).