the.com/dud
The sound a firework, a date, and your startup idea all make in private.
means Something that completely fails to work or live up to expectations.
from Origin uncertain — it surfaces in early 20th-century slang (possibly linked to an older dialect word for clothing or a limp, worthless thing), and got cemented in WWI soldiers' speech for shells that failed to explode. From there it spread to cover anything that fizzles instead of firing.
- origin
- from duds, old slang for shabby clothes
- wwii use
- popularized for bombs that failed to explode
- cruel irony
- the buildup is always better produced than the payoff