late unpleasantness

the late unpleasantness

1. Any recent war, but used especially in reference to the American Civil War. The statue serves as a reminder of the late unpleasantness and the devastating effects it had on the community 150 years ago.
2. By extension, any recent controversial or divisive event or period. The book goes over the late unpleasantness of the last election, and the ructions it has caused across the country.
See also: late, unpleasantness
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

late unpleasantness

Euph. the U.S. Civil War. (Old.) The town courthouse was burned in the late unpleasantness. Many of my ancestors lost their lives in the late unpleasantness.
See also: late, unpleasantness
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • the late unpleasantness
  • unpleasantness
  • press the button
  • declare war
  • declare war on
  • declare war on (someone or something)
  • dogs of war
  • take the King's shilling
  • take the King's/Queen's shilling
  • fortunes of war
References in periodicals archive
Among Shreveport's claims to fame: it was the last Confederate capital of the South and its only militarily undefeated one during "the Late Unpleasantness Between the States." In retrospect, I believe that Harold and I lived parallel lives in the South in many ways and he enriched me from afar.
The Third World, Harold Isaacs and Abraham Lincoln
He clearly had immigration on his mind when he wrote it, as well as the Late Unpleasantness and the Social Question (i.e., the violent conflict between labor and capital).
A sentimental education
Kilcullen updates and recasts this framework in terms of the so-called "global war on terror" (or "long war" or "late unpleasantness" or whatever the preferred nomenclature for this twilight struggle is).
The Hegemon's Dilemma
Wilf was born during the Second World War, which he describes as 'the late unpleasantness'.
Wilf recalls that he went down a bomb in the War Baby competition; Zany inventor's life (until he reaches 11, anyway)
It is one of those days during the late unpleasantness, sometimes called World War II.
Happy days at Cardiff Docks
The evidence presented in a Fort Benning courtroom condemned them both." It is unlikely that anyone with significant knowledge of the Army or the late unpleasantness in Southeast Asia, upon reading these two sentences, would respond other than with a scatological barnyard expletive or some more genteel utterance representing the same level of acceptance.
The Vietnam War on Trial
During the late unpleasantness in Iraq, there was nary a nationally known politician who spoke against the war.
It came from Hollywood. (Culture)
It has been called the Uncivil War, the Brother's War, the Old Confederate War, and my personal favorite, the Late Unpleasantness. The war ended when Gen.
War is hell, naming them ain't too easy either
The late unpleasantness in the Balkans and the long string of Arab-Israeli conflicts--to use Edward Luttwak's own examples of paradigmatic conflicts rudely interrupted by the frivolous motives of the West--were all inspired by territorial and genocidal inclinations.
LETTERS
This is not a surprise, of course, but a fact frequently downplayed, even overlooked, in basic studies of the "late unpleasantness." Professor Rable, whose previous books have revealed much about Southern society, has pulled Confederate political affairs--local and national--to center stage.
The Confederate Republic: A Revolution Against Politics
No one who cares for the integrity of the founding principles of the Republic, in other words, can afford to be anything less than skeptical when the summons to war is sounded--most especially when it is sounded in the distinctively British-imperial tone of the late unpleasantness in Mesopotamia.
Christopher Hitchens: author; journalist; Nation columnist