TALL POPPY

PRONUNCIATION: (TAWL pop-ee)

MEANING: noun: Someone conspicuously successful, especially one likely to attract hostility.

ETYMOLOGY: From tall, from Old English getæl (quick, prompt) + poppy, from Old English popæg/popig. Earliest documented use: 1858.

NOTES: The word poppy has been used for a prominent person for a long time. The earliest example in the OED is from a 1641, a use by John Milton. Making it “tall poppy” is just a little inflation (or elongation)
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Tall poppy syndrome is the tendency to cut someone down to size, someone who is successful, rich, or prominent. The expression is popular in Australia and New Zealand. A similar expression is that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
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TAIL POPPY - the last flower in the row

TALL HOPPY - Charley, the six-foot rabbit

TALL PUPPY - Clifford the Red Dog when he was young