the.com/pratfall
The dignity tax you pay for having a body in public.
means A fall onto the buttocks, or more broadly, a humiliating public blunder.
from Borrowed from circus and vaudeville slang, where 'prat' meant the buttocks (a bit of old thieves' cant/underworld slang going back centuries). Stage comedians turned the literal rear-end tumble into an art form — the pratfall — and by the mid-20th century the word had fallen upward into general use for any public, dignity-smashing flop.
- origin
- prat meant buttocks in old slang
- psychology
- competent people become more likable after one
- comedy rule
- works best on someone already seen as skilled
- distinction
- a pratfall is accidental, slapstick is rehearsed