The other day I said to my manager “close, but no cigar.” I inspect camera gear and he was helping me find a device. I thought I found it, but it wasn’t the exact item. So I threw it out without another thought. It’s a phrase I’ve heard and used many times since I was a kid. I said this phrase as if I truly knew what it meant. I was wrong.
Here’s the way I’ve used this phrase: looking for one thing, but what I found wasn’t the thing. “close…”
In actuality, this is an American term meaning “to fall short of an expected outcome.” Was I ever wrong!
After my manager questioned my usage of this phrase (this dated yet classic-sounding phrase), he looked up the line into the most powerful search engine we love and hate: Google.
I was, to use the phrase correctly this time, close but no cigar.
Not even Wikipedia.org has a lot on the phrase, though plenty on the Weird Al song “Close, But No Cigar.” But there were a couple of articles found that shed a dim light on the matter. The exact origins are shrouded in smoke, but the accepted theory appears to be in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Location? Carnivals and fairgrounds.
Back in the day, prizes at those over-prized booths weren’t for children. In truth, they were for the adults. It was common for things such as cigars to be a prize for that strength or accuracy contest. That is, if you won them. They were always rigged, but every once in a while someone would win. And they could win prizes such as cigars.
But as these fairgrounds became popularized, kids were drawn to them as well. They would have their try at ring toss, or one of those tests of strength. When kid or adult would lose these nigh-impossible contests, the person behind the booth would yell out that one phrase. Possibly to announce what sort of prizes they had in stock. “Ya close, sir. You were so close. But you didn’t win, so no cigar for you! Better luck next time.” This was a popular method of drawing in crowds and to encourage the ‘loser’ to try again. Maybe even again!
It’s funny to imagine a group of teenagers trying their best at ring toss. One of them finally makes it and the carnival attendant hands them a cigar and congratulates the kid. Then the next teenager gives it a go and the attendant guffaws and proclaims, “Close, kid, but no cigar!” Meaning, you were close, but no prize.
Thank you for reading this light rabbit hole dive into a phrase I overuse. I hope to keep this up on a regular basis.
I checked out several sites, but none of them are as extensively researched (allegedly) as the website listed below.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/the-origin-of-the-phrase-close-but-no-cigar/