verbal diarrhoea

This page is about the idiom verbal diarrhoea.

Meaning: If someone has verbal diarrhoea, they can't stop talking.

For example:

  • Janice has a real bad case of verbal diarrhoea. It's like she's afraid of silence and has to keep talking to block it out.

  • I don't know if you could say he's got verbal diarrhoea, but Alan sure does talk a lot.

Note: The American spelling of diarrhoea is "diarrhea".

Origin: This humorous idiom includes the medical word diarrhoea, meaning an illness in which the body's solid waste is more liquid than usual and during which the sufferer has to go to the toilet more often than usual, to create the image of a person with a similar problem with the spoken word.

Quick Quiz:

There's this guy in our office who's got verbal diarrhoea. He must love

a. the sound of his own voice

b. talking about verbs

c. writing in his diary

Idiom of the Day

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Contributor: Matt Errey