neither fish nor fowl

形容词 adj.
中文释义
英 /ˌnaɪðə ˈfɪʃ nɔː ˈfaʊl/|/ˌniː-/    美 /ˌnaɪðɚ ˈfɪʃ nɔɹ ˈfaʊl/|/ˌni-/

英文释义

形容词 adj.
  1. Not easily categorized; not rightly belonging or fitting well in a given group or situation; also, not having the advantages of the various options. idiomatic,not-comparable
    — Besides, I know I should hate being there without you; I'm a great old thing, as Jasper says, neither fish nor fowl, you know, not come out, and not a little girl in the schoolroom, and it would be very horrid going to a grand place like that on one's own account.

词源

Possibly a variant of neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, itself a variant of neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring which is attested from the 16th century. According to Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1895), the latter term referred to three types of food generally consumed by the different classes in society: fish by the clergy, flesh by the common people, and red herring by the poor. Thus if something was neither fish, flesh, nor red herring, it was good for no one.
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