odd duck
noun1
Idiomatic An unusual person, especially one with an idiosyncratic personality or peculiar behavioral characteristics.
- This lad Kelley is an odd duck in many ways. . . . Unlike most college youngsters, he has no hobbies.1936 December 11, Bill Lush, “Kelley Reveals Technique of Successful Pass Play”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, retrieved 28 Jul 2010, page 27:
- If you are a married woman over 45 and are thinking of taking a plunge into the job market bear in mind that you won't be an odd duck in the employment pool.1971 June 18, “The Job Market: A New Start—Mature Women Who Work”, in The Dispatch, North Carolina, retrieved 28 Jul 2010, page 6:
1 more example
- Is [Peter] O'Toole—skinny, tottering, eccentric in everything from costume to line-readings—wonderful in this role? Indeed he is. Always more of an odd duck than a leading man, age (he's 74) has given him license to play his essential weirdness.2006 Dec. 21, "Sentiment—Not Sentimentality" (film review of Venus), Time (retrieved 28 July 2010)
- Synonyms
- odd fish, strange bird, weirdo