queer as a clockwork orange

English

Etymology

Cockney phrase from East London indicating something bizarre internally, but appearing natural and normal on the surface. Author Anthony Burgess appropriated the phrase for the title of his novella A Clockwork Orange.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Anything more about the origin of the term than 'from East London'?”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

queer as a clockwork orange

1. (simile) Strange, odd, unusual.
2. (simile) Unusually camp, unusually homosexual.
   • 1997, Tony Harrison, quoted in Sandie Byrne's introduction to Tony Harrison: Loiner (ed Sandie Byrne, 1997)

     He sauntered the flunkied restaurant, queer /As a clockwork orange and not scared. /God, I was grateful for the nights we shared.

Synonyms

• (strange, unusual): queer as a nine bob note, queer as a three dollar bill, queer as a coot

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian: споља гладац а унутра јадац
• Spanish: más raro que un perro verde

References

• Dominic Head (2002) The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Fiction, 1950-2000: “(footnote) Morrison observes that the title is taken from a Cockney expression, 'as queer as a clockwork orange' which means 'very queer indeed', with or without a sexual implication.”