One sandwich short...

[FredPuli]

What is the origin of ' One sandwich short of a picnic' for someone mentally deficient or somewhat mad?

[Quizmonster]

In the 1920s, a whole raft of phrases appeared to describe someone/thing as 'excellent'...the bee's knees, the monkey's eyebrows, the cat's whiskers etc. I have no idea which appeared first, but - once one had caught the public's imagination, dozens were coined.

The same applies to phrases relating to stupidity...one sandwich short of a picnic, one can short of a six-pack, one clown short of a circus and so on. They're all just manifestations of people trying to outdo each other with imaginative ways of expressing a common thought. I doubt whether there is much hope of isolating the origin of any single one of them.

[Roxy]

oh but i'm sure if anyone could do it, you could Quiz.

[Quizmonster]

Thanks for your confidence in me, Roxy! Thought I'd do one, just for you..."the bee's knees", meaning "excellent", first appeared in print in the USA in 1923 in a publication by H C Witwer called 'Fighting Blood'. I believe the "one short of a..." phrases are all much more recent.

[darth vader]

one score draw short of a full classified roundup - best one i ever heard

[bazwillrun]

He/She is one clown short of a circus ----only using one chopstick---knitting with one needle