born in a barn

English

born in a barn (not comparable)

(idiomatic) In a past tense: criticizing the person to whom the phrase is directed for inappropriately, and usually neglectingly, leaving an exterior door or window open, considered ill-mannered.
- 2006 October 20, Heather Murphy, “The More the Merrier?”, in Washington Post, retrieved 15 September 2008:
  Neither bothered to lock or shut the house's front or back doors. "It was like they had been born in a barn," she says.
(idiomatic) In a past tense: criticizing the person to whom the phrase is directed as lacking a sense of etiquette or being ill-mannered.
- 1971, Joyce Carol Oates, Wonderland: A Novel, Vanguard Press, page 76:
  His aunt said angrily: "Fritz, were you born in a barn? Don't you have any manners?"
- 2002 June 19, Ruth Ann Baker, “Even wolves behave in the pack”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, retrieved 15 September 2008, page N4:
  Phone at a symphony concert? I'd ask if these people were born in a barn, but that would disrespect the animals.

Usually used in a rhetorical question directed toward a person who leaves a door open, or who displays rudeness or ignorance: Were you born in a barn?