circus

Things given or presented in an attempt to please (or at least distract) disgruntled people. The phrase comes from the Roman poet Juvenal. I really think this event is just bread and circuses to get us to stop protesting.

Totally chaotic, frenetic, and wild. I babysat my neighbor's two young children the other evening, and it was like a three-ring circus in there! The company has been like a three-ring circus without the boss around to keep things in order.

This troublesome, burdensome, or volatile situation is none of my concern, and thus I refuse to get involved in it. A loan translation of the Polish idiom nie mój cyrk, nie moje malpy. When asked whether she would involve the state's law enforcement agents in the operation, the governor replied, "Not my circus, not my monkeys." A: "Don't you think we should try to help him fix the problem." B: "He's the one who caused it to begin with. Not my circus, not my monkeys."

This situation is not something that you need to know about or be involved with; it's none of your business. An extension of the phrase "not my circus, not my monkeys," a loan translation of the Polish idiom nie mój cyrk, nie moje malpy. A: "Who was that guy who was in your office just now? Is everything all right?" B: "Not your circus, not your monkeys, OK?" Look, I appreciate your offer to help, I really do, but let me just deal with this on my own. Not your circus, not your monkeys!

A chaotic situation, often one in which a lot of activity is occurring simultaneously. I felt like I was in a three-ring circus when I babysat my neighbor's three noisy, mischievous children. Without the boss around, the business quickly devolved into a three-ring circus.

Fig. chaotic; exciting and busy. Our household is like a three-ring circus on Monday mornings. This meeting is like a three-ring circus. Quiet down and listen!

A situation of complete confusion, as in It was a three-ring circus, with the baby crying, the dog barking, both telephones ringing, and someone at the front door . This term alludes to a circus where three rings or arenas are featuring performances simultaneously. Perhaps invented by show business impresario P.T. Barnum, the term was extended to other confused situations by about 1900.

People use bread and circuses to talk about a situation in which a government provides people with things which seem to make their lives more enjoyable in order to stop them complaining about important problems. He limited political dissent through a policy of bread and circuses backed up by a fearsome secret police. Our children and grandchildren will curse us for squandering their prosperity in exchange for today's bread and circuses. Note: This is a translation of a phrase in a satire by the Roman poet Juvenal. It refers to the fact that, in ancient Rome, the authorities provided the people with public amusements and food in order to prevent possible rebellion.

If you describe a situation as a three-ring circus, you mean there is a lot of noisy or confused activity. Grief was a private thing, not something to be turned into a three-ring circus by over-eager reporters. Cooking needn't be a three-ring circus of sweat and tears.

Crowd-pleasers, events of popular appeal. The term dates from the Roman poet Juvenal’s Satires, in which he said, Duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et Circenses (Two things only the people earnestly desire, bread and [the games of the] circuses). Although this expression has survived long enough into modern times to become a cliché, it appears to be dying out. However, in the 1990s a very successful Massachusetts chain of health-food stores called itself the Bread & Circus Wholefood Supermarkets.

An occasion of utter confusion. This late nineteenth-century Americanism alludes to a circus in which three rings or arenas are featuring performances at the same time. Possibly invented by P. T. Barnum, the epitome of American show business entrepreneurs, the term was transferred to other extravagant events and disorderly situations by about 1900. Rudyard Kipling used it in A Diversity of Creatures (1914): “I can see lots of things from here. It’s like a three-ring circus!”