queer fish

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (British) IPA^(key): /ˈkwiːɹˌfɪʃ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

queer fish (plural queer fish)

1. (dated, chiefly British) An odd or eccentric person.
   • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:

     He’s known amongst us as the Arab. I’ve had my eye on him ever since he came to the place. A queer fish he is. I always have said that he’s up to some game or other.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 54”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     To these people, native and European, he was a queer fish, but they were used to queer fish, and they took him for granted; the world was full of odd persons, who did odd things; and perhaps they knew that a man is not what he wants to be, but what he must be.

   • 1974 April 21, Vincent Canby, “Movie Review: The Conversation”, in New York Times, retrieved 24 February 2014:

     Harry is a queer fish indeed. He is suspicious of everybody and everything.

Synonyms

• odd fish, strange fish, weirdo; see also Thesaurus:strange person