comedy of errors

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)A set ofamusingorfarcicalevents involving aseriesofawkwardmisstepsor othermistakes.1884,Grant Allen, chapter 37, inPhilistia:"[I]t's the poor Le Bretons who have brought us two thus together. And yet, they were both once our dearest rivals.Youwere in love with Edie Le Breton:Iwas half in love with Ernest Le Breton: and now—why, now, Arthur, Idobelieve we're both utterly in love with one another. What a curious littlecomedy of errors!"1914,Ralph Henry Barbour, chapter 13, inLeft End Edwards:[T]hose who had remained so long began to view the game as what it really was, acomedy of errors, and got lots of fun out of it.1951March, M. D. Greville, “The Nomenclature of Railway Stations”, inRailway Magazine, page192:Reference to Flamborough brings to mind an amusingcomedy of errors, which although not strictly a matter of station-naming, at least concerns station names. The actual name was Marton for Flamborough, and, by some error, it appeared inBradshaw, at the end of 1858, as MartonfromFlamborough. After two or three months, this was evidently noticed, and instructions given to correct it, but unfortunately the correction appeared as MartonorFlamborough, which remained undetected for several months more.1965June 3, Eliot Fremont-Smith, "A Way Back to Life" (book review ofAugust is a Wicked MonthbyEdna O'Brien),New York Times(retrieved 28 July 2013):What follows is a painfulcomedy of errors. Almost from her arrival she is pursued by a bellhop who interprets her every rebuff as a coy invitation.2005Feb. 11, "Bride and Prejudice" (film review),boxofficeprophets.com(retrieved 28 July 2013):Though Lalita and Darcy's budding romance nearly falls prey to assumptions, back-biting gossip, and various coincidences andcomedies of errors, pride and prejudice are both overcome so that love may conquer all in the end.2018September 26, Drachinifel, 6:12 from the start, inThe Battle of Lissa - Special‎[1], archived fromthe originalon9 August 2023:Initially, despite thiscomedy of errorsby the Italian command structure, the battle seemed to be going badly for the Austrians.2021May 28, Sam Jones, Uki Goñi, “Bard timing: Argentinian TV reports death of Shakespeare after Covid jab”, inThe Guardian‎[2]:In what can only be described as acomedy of errors, an Argentinian TV news channel delivered a stunning, if slightly flawed, scoop on Thursday night when it reported that William Shakespeare, “one of the most important writers in the English language” had died five months after receiving the Covid vaccine.

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