old man yells at cloud
phraseEtymology From a scene in the 2002 episode "The Old Man and the Key" of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, in which Grampa Simpson, applying for a driver's license, produces a newspaper clipping with this headline for identification.
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Derogatory, Humorous Refers to a person who expresses a trivial, out-of-touch, or idiosyncratic grievance; especially, with an implication of aged crotchetiness.
- I'm incessantly railing, in the old-man-yells-at-cloud tradition, against Big Beautiful Burgers stuffed into wispy buns that leave nothing to the imagination.2018 February, Liz Cook, “Check-in Time”, in The Pitch, page 26:
- If you will allow me an “old man yells at cloud” moment...back in my day, the only tools we had to make documentation were plain ol' spreadsheets, slides, and Word documents.2020, Matt LeMay, Product Management in Practice, page 148:
1 more example
- Everyone has their own Old-Man-Yells-at-Cloud gripe that they just can't let go. Some people can't get over the fact that some people do (or do not) keep their ketchup in the fridge; other people can't stop themselves ragging on pineapple-topped pizza.2022, Ruby Tandoh, Cook As You Are: Recipes for Real Life, Hungry Cooks, and Messy Kitchens: A Cookbook, page 131:
- Derived terms
- yell at clouds