Idiom
act one's age, not one's shoe size
Meaning
Synonym of act one's age (“to behave in a mature manner; to avoid being childish”).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Please stop acting your age, not your shoe size.”
“The teenagers were throwing food in the cafeteria, so the teacher told them to act their age, not their shoe size.”
“Despite his professional title, he continued to make immature jokes during the board meeting, prompting his colleague to suggest he finally act his age, not his shoe size.”
Examples
simple
“Please stop acting your age, not your shoe size.”
contextual
“The teenagers were throwing food in the cafeteria, so the teacher told them to act their age, not their shoe size.”
complex
“Despite his professional title, he continued to make immature jokes during the board meeting, prompting his colleague to suggest he finally act his age, not his shoe size.”
Origin
In reference to a person's shoe size (in the US or UK shoe size systems) usually being much lower than their age.
Key words
Related idioms
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