sob story

sob story

A sad story told in an attempt to generate sympathy for the storyteller. Don't come in tomorrow without your final project. I don't want to hear any sob stories about how you forgot it at home.
See also: sob, story
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sob story

Fig. a sad story that is likely to draw tears. I've heard nothing but sob stories today. Isn't anybody happy? She had quite a sob story, and I listened to the whole thing.
See also: sob, story
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

sob story

A tale of personal hardship, true or invented, that is intended to arouse pity in the listener. For example, She always came up with some sob story to excuse her absences, but no one believed her . [Early 1900s]
See also: sob, story
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

a ˈsob story

(informal, disapproving) a story that somebody tells you so that you will feel sorry for them, especially one that does not have that effect or is not true: Then she gave me another of her sob stories, this time about an argument with her boyfriend.
See also: sob, story
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

sob story

n. a sad story that is likely to draw tears. I’ve heard nothing but sob stories today. Isn’t anybody happy?
See also: sob, story
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

sob story

An oversentimental tale; a tearjerker. This expression from the early twentieth century presumably represents a reaction to Victorian sentimentality. C. E. Montague used it in Fiery Particles (1923): “Thomas Curtayne, the greatest of Irishmen, was to be buried in homely state. . . . Here was a sob story.” A roughly contemporary term is sob sister, a woman reporter who writes stories full of sentimental pathos. This expression, however, is obsolescent.
See also: sob, story
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a sob story
  • come it
  • come it (with one)
  • don't get me wrong
  • bank on
  • banking
  • don't beat a dead horse
  • all in (one's) head
  • can't see a hole in a ladder
References in periodicals archive
"He's hard- working, doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs, so there is little to pick on and no obvious sob story."
'Our Rhydian's not a villain... it's just heart-breaking'
They need to formulate a suitable sob story to give themselves any chance SOB STORY THE SPACE ON THE MILE of winning.
Fame and fortune just a sad tale away
When asked why she'd hadn't worked for years, Dee - who'd had a very expensive-looking cut and blow dry - trotted out the classic bipolar sob story. Newsflash, Dee: Kerry Katona is bipolar - and she works.
White Dee a VIP? Black humour..
TWO women burglars who invented a lost cat sob story to trick their way into their elderly victims' homes have been jailed.
Cat women burglars preyed on elderly
The prison officer nicknamed Screwbo, who has been runaway favourite to win the show, was shown the door after just 30 seconds in 2007 and says producers were after a "good sob story".
I WAS A REJECT ON 6 YRS AGO; SHOCK ADMISSION FROM FAVOURITE SAM... AND SOME VERY BLUNT VIEWS ON THE SHOW; I sang in a room for 30 secs...then was told to go home; EXCLUSIVE
In response to the letter about the landlord sob story, after several visits to RERA for a similar case (all of which I won),...
Lying landlords really can be taken to task
But the buxom beauty's sob story fell on deaf ears as the repo men towed the vehicle.
Lil' Kim loses her Bentley
Danny Gokey has all the right qualities - he can sing really well, he looks just like a young Robert Downey Jr and his wife died a month before the auditions, so he has the requisite sob story.
telly: I ADMIT to being hooked on US TV shows
But his family were among the X-Factor fans who tuned in on Saturday, and were stunned by his sob story, which they say is made up.
Dad in shock at son's X-Factor foster claim
SOB STORY: Peter Ward and Ruth MacCallum in Brief Encounter at the Loft Theatre.
GO: THEATRE: Hankies ready ..
As our report tells, she swindled a vulnerable Down's Syndrome man by spinning him a cock-and-bull sob story, then persuading him to draw out pounds 100 from his bank to give to her.
Echo comment: She'll run but she can't hide
Ahead of The X Factor's return on Saturday, Simon, 54, said: "I'm not interested in a sob story, I mean seriously, I'm just so over them."
SOB OFF; Cowell bans the tear-jerking back stories from this year's X Factor
NIALL Collins' letter to a judge seeking leniency for a convicted criminal showed the Fianna Fail TD was "ok" about dealing drugs as long as it came with a sob story, it was claimed.
COLLINS 'OK ON DRUG DEALING' Fury at justice spokesman's letter to judge
Just over two months ago we were given the sob story by our landlord that having recently lost his job and problems with a couple of properties in Europe he wanted to carry out some renovations to the villa that we were currently renting and then move in with his wife and either sell or rent their main family home just 2km away.
Tenants told not to fall for a landlord sob story
REGARDING Friday's Hot Topic vote, I think your voting question missed the point of the article to which it related: 'Toy Story becomes sob story' (Friday, July 30).
Make cinema rules clear; Mailbag