Gordon Brown

[sissimarissa]

Mr Cameron tells us today that this strange man who has moved into No 10 is suffering from "the tall poppy syndrome. What is "the tall poppy syndrome", please?

[jno]

an Australian expression, I think. It means anyone who stands out from the crowd gets cut down (by the public and media). I don't know exactly what Cameron meant by it, though, because it's usually used as criticism of public attitudes rather than of the victim.

[Gromit]

Yes, it is Australian slang.

A Tall Poppy is a highly successful person.

Tall Poppy Syndrome is Australian slang for the tendancy to criticise highly successful people.

If it was meant as an insult, it has failed because
a) Hardly anyone knows what it means
b) It seems to have been wrongly used

[sissimarissa]

Thank you everyone very much. Nobody had any idea around here as to what it meant !

[jonnythebosh]

It was have been much more effective if he had just said that Gordon Brown is a useless, lying, devious, robbing, socialist gonad. Then everybody would have understand what he meant.

[fletcher.5]

JONNYTHEBOSH You are spot on, the problem with Nivea man is, he is only knocking Brown, because he is not doing it