Idiom
missing stair
Meaning
A member of a community who is widely but privately known within that community for abusiveness or other harmful behavior that has not been addressed.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Everyone knows he is a missing stair in our office.”
“She is a missing stair that everyone in the club simply steps around.”
“We all avoid the manager because he is a missing stair, but nobody ever reports his behavior to human resources.”
“The local theater group treats that director like a missing stair, quietly telling new actors to never stay in the rehearsal room alone with him.”
“Instead of firing the dishonest accountant, the firm kept him as a missing stair and just warned other staff to double-check his math.”
“The community tolerated him as a missing stair for years, silently warning newcomers about his conduct rather than confronting the underlying problem.”
Examples
simple
“Everyone knows he is a missing stair in our office.”
“She is a missing stair that everyone in the club simply steps around.”
contextual
“We all avoid the manager because he is a missing stair, but nobody ever reports his behavior to human resources.”
“The local theater group treats that director like a missing stair, quietly telling new actors to never stay in the rehearsal room alone with him.”
“Instead of firing the dishonest accountant, the firm kept him as a missing stair and just warned other staff to double-check his math.”
complex
“The community tolerated him as a missing stair for years, silently warning newcomers about his conduct rather than confronting the underlying problem.”
Origin
Coined in 2012 by the blogger Cliff Pervocracy, the term relies on the analogy of a household staircase missing a single step. The residents of such a house, having grown accustomed to the structural defect, simply step over the gap and expect their guests to do the same rather than repairing the staircase itself.
Key words
Related idioms
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