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Meaning of Idiom ‘Egg on Your (or one’s) Face’

To have egg on your face means to be publicly embarrassed; to appear foolish or ridiculous. ¹,²

People use this idiom when someone has embarrassed themselves by making a social mistake or doing something wrong. ³

This expression can be used with both have and with.

Sentence Examples

“I told you not to try to embarass me. Now look who has egg on his face.”

“The social media giant has egg on its face after launching its ill-recieved multi-million dollar product.”

“Julian had egg on his face after claiming he was an advanced rock climber and telling grandiose stories of his big climbing adventures.”

“He had egg on his face after claiming he could bench press 300 pounds.”

“Don’t take him as a client. At best, you’ll come away with egg on your face.”

Origin of Egg On Your Face

Used since the early to mid-1900s.

There are a number of competing theories for the origin of ‘egg on one’s face.’ One leading theory is that it comes from rowdy ‘lower class’ theatrical performances where the audience would sometimes throw eggs at a performer’s face if the performance was not good, such as in the Victorian theater during the 1800s or the later Vaudeville acts or from other situations where an unhappy crowd would throw (often rotten) eggs at someone, such as a politician. Some claim that it specifically originated with political candidates during the 1960s, based on the notion that people would throw eggs at a candidate’s face to make them look foolish or ridiculous. However, the idiom was recorded as early as the 1950s and was heard on the Front Page Detective television series, which aired from July 6, 1951, to September 19, 1952.

Also, during the slapstick comedies of the Victorian era, actors would sometimes use break eggs on the forehead of a “fall guy” to make him look foolish and add to the comedy. This was the Victorian equivalent of a pie in the face and could also be a possible origin.

Another theory is that it derives from people with sloppy eating habits who would often have egg yolk around their mouths after eating breakfast. Others claim it comes from dogs who would sneak into chicken coups to eat eggs and would invariably show their guilt by having traces of egg on their muzzles.

Possible connections to the idiom ‘red in the face’ have also been suggested.

Ayto, John. [http://amzn.to/2vdGvI7 Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms]. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.
Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms]. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.
Brenner, Gail. Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.