After the blunder, the manager was in sackcloth and ashes for a week.
sackcloth and ashes
idiomA public display of deep grief, mourning, or remorse.
Origin
Sackcloth and ashes was a recognised ritual of mourning and repentance across the ancient Near East, and the Bible mentions it repeatedly — Mordecai puts on sackcloth and ashes in Esther 4:1, and Jesus refers to the custom in Matthew 11:21. Sackcloth was coarse, uncomfortable goat-hair fabric, and ashes were smeared on the head or sat in, both visibly signalling grief or contrition.
The point was that the sorrow or penitence be seen: this was mourning made public and physical, a deliberate outward sign of an inward state.
In English to be in sackcloth and ashes means to display open, sometimes exaggerated remorse or grief — and the phrase often carries a dry note, hinting that the show of penitence may be a touch more theatrical than the feeling behind it.
The company issued a grovelling apology and put on a display of sackcloth and ashes that fooled no one.
There was no need for sackcloth and ashes, the chairman told him; a simple correction and a lesson learned would do far more good than the elaborate public self-flagellation he seemed so eager to perform.
The rise and fall of kings and the warnings of the prophets.
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A contest in which a much weaker underdog faces a far stronger opponent.
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the writing on the wall (idiom)
A clear sign that something, especially failure or disaster, is on its way.
- 03
feet of clay (idiom)
In someone apparently strong and without failings, a hidden weakness which could lead to downfall.
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a drop in the bucket (idiom)
A quantity so small it is negligible next to what is actually needed.
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a leopard cannot change its spots (idiom)
People rarely change their fundamental nature, however much they may seem to.
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how the mighty have fallen (idiom)
A remark on the dramatic downfall of someone once powerful or admired.