idiot box

English

Etymology

idiot +‎ box An allusion to the supposed mind-reducing nature of television programming or its lack of educational value.

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

idiot box (plural idiot boxes)

(idiomatic, chiefly US and Canada) Television.
- 2003 March 31, Bill Litchfield, “Basketball Fans”, in rec.gardens, Usenet‎:
  During the long, dreary, wet winter I amused myself by watching college and Pro basketball on the idiot box.

Usage notes

The same term could also have an application towards computer screens and tablets.

Synonyms

(television): boob tube (idiot = boob)

Translations

television (pejorative)

Finnish: telkkari (fi), töllö (fi)
Greek: χαζοκούτι (el) n (chazokoúti)
Icelandic: imbakassi m

Russian: дебили́зор (ru) m (debilízor) (contamination of "деби́л"(retard) and "телеви́зор" (TV set)), зомбоя́щик (ru) m (zombojáščik) (zombiebox), дуроско́п m (duroskóp), зомбови́зор m (zombovízor)
Spanish: caja boba f, caja idiota f
Swedish: dumburk (sv) c

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