🐾 “a fish out of water”

What it means: Uncomfortable and out of place in a new situation.

“At the design conference he felt like a fish out of water.”

Where it comes from

The proverb is Tudor — the out-of-element misery of a fish was an established joke before print; man-out-of-his-element phrasing follows it.

← kill two birds with one stone · all animals idioms · a dark horse →

let the cat out of the baghold your horsesthe elephant in the roomkill two birds with one stonea dark horse

More phrases, including proverbs from dozens of languages, at Proverbs of the World.