like the back end of a bus

English

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

like the back end of a bus

1. (simile, colloquial, British, derogatory) Very unattractive.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ugly

   • 2001, "Richard", "A sign of our times...", demon.local [1]

     Not really fighting over her (puns aside). When you get a current beau and an ex, full of booze and testosterone, meeting up, their common interest isn't much of an issue in the subsequent display of machismo. I think she looks like the back end of a bus but, to them, she was a 'possession'.

   • 2002, Tanuki the Raccoon-dog, “I drove a...”, in uk.rec.cars.modifications‎^[2] (Usenet):

     Must admit, I like the *original* 911s - the original, late-1960s ones back before they fitted bulgey wheelarches and silly tea-tray rear spoilers. They look much more like delicate, precision instruments compared with the later 'sledgehammer" versions [which IMHO are about as attractive as the back end of a bus].

   • 2004, David Platt, “DUCHESS OF YORK NUDE”, in uk.politics.misc‎^[3] (Usenet):

     You surely can't be comparing Alicia Witt with Sarah Fergusson? Alicia Witt looks stunning, while the duchess of Pork looks like the back end of a bus.

   • 2005, Will Hadcroft, Anne Droyd And Century Lodge:

     ‘You’ve got a face like the back end of a bus,’ he spat, his eyes raw and burning. Then he grinned, his yellow-stained teeth spreading across his mush [...]

   • 2006, "sheelagh", "Bookie: Did you adopt the blind cat?", rec.pats.cats.health+behav [4]

     As I once told him, being British, looking like the back end of a bus or weighing 30 stone, was utterly irrelevant to the posting i made

Translations

very unattractive

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} een gezicht om leer op te kloppen
• Spanish: como una nevera por detrás
• Swedish: (se ut) som sju svåra år (literally, "(look) like seven hard years"), (se ut) som hej kom och hjälp mig (sv) (literally, "(look) like hi come and help me")

See also

• face for radio
• face only a mother could love

Further reading

• Catherine M. Schwarz, Elizabeth McLaren Kirkpatrick (1993) The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms