Idiom
person from Porlock
Meaning
One whose inconvenient interruption prevents the completion of something important.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“My neighbor is a person from Porlock who interrupts my work every day.”
“I was finally finishing my report when my chatty colleague arrived, acting like a true person from Porlock.”
“Just as the poet reached the height of his inspiration, a persistent person from Porlock arrived at the door, shattering his focus and ending the creative flow.”
Examples
simple
“My neighbor is a person from Porlock who interrupts my work every day.”
contextual
“I was finally finishing my report when my chatty colleague arrived, acting like a true person from Porlock.”
complex
“Just as the poet reached the height of his inspiration, a persistent person from Porlock arrived at the door, shattering his focus and ending the creative flow.”
Origin
In reference to an unwelcome visitor described by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as interrupting him during his composition of the poem Kubla Khan in 1797, and preventing its completion.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated