Idiom
Buggins's turn
Meaning
A humorous, disparaging term for the appointment of a person by rotation or promotion, on the basis of length of service (it being that person's "turn") rather than merit or level of qualification.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He got the promotion just because it was Buggins's turn.”
“The manager chose the least qualified candidate for the lead role, simply because it was Buggins's turn.”
“The committee members were frustrated when the most experienced person was passed over for the chair position simply to follow the tradition of Buggins's turn.”
“The department head ignored the younger, more talented staff, preferring to reward seniority through the outdated practice of Buggins's turn.”
Examples
simple
“He got the promotion just because it was Buggins's turn.”
contextual
“The manager chose the least qualified candidate for the lead role, simply because it was Buggins's turn.”
“The committee members were frustrated when the most experienced person was passed over for the chair position simply to follow the tradition of Buggins's turn.”
complex
“The department head ignored the younger, more talented staff, preferring to reward seniority through the outdated practice of Buggins's turn.”
Origin
The expression is first recorded in a 1901 letter by Admiral Fisher, who later served as First Sea Lord. The term Buggins is an invented surname intended to evoke a person of mediocre ability, whose promotion is a matter of administrative rotation rather than professional merit. Fisher used the name to characterise a system of appointment by seniority, in which the requirements of the office are secondary to the fact that it is Buggins's turn.
Key words
Related idioms
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