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failure to communicate

A failure to communicate occurs when the lines-of-communication are so broken down that you might as well be attempting to convey information not by means of the spoken word, but rather by some obscure and arcane non-verbal dialect comprised solely of farts and tap dancing.

'The story . . . was entitled "The Dancing Fool." Like so many Kilgore Trout stories, it was about a tragic failure to communicate.

'Here was the plot: A flying saucer creature named Zog arrived on Earth to explain how wars could be prevented and how cancer could be cured. He brought the information from Margo, a planet where the natives conversed by means of farts and tap dancing.

'Zog landed at night in Connecticut. He had no sooner touched down than he saw a house on fire. He rushed into the house, farting and tap dancing, warning the people about the terrible danger they were in. The head of the house brained Zog with a golfclub.'

-- From Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel "Breakfast of Champions" -- Chapter 5 (page 58).

by Dinkum July 29, 2013


failure to communicate

failure to communicate (n)

Attempting desperately to convey an idea or explain what the hell you're talking about, but to no avail; esp. prevalent between husbands and their wives, or any male and female.

husband: "But it's the Cowboys versus the Redskins Thanksgiving game!"
wife: "..."

This is a prime example of a failure to communicate; absolutely nothing was just conveyed.

by wakingpain October 28, 2006

11👍 4👎


failure to communicate

Verb: A lack of communication demonstrated from slackasses that don't return numerous phone calls.

Considering I've left Joe a minimum of five voice messages without as much as one returned call, I think what we've got here is a failure to communicate.

by PTL April 10, 2006

5👍 8👎


Failure to Communicate

A band based out of H-town Mass, known to use at least 6 guitars in every song even though the band is only made up of 4 members. their guitars are made up of 3 acustic guitars, one 12 string rickerbacker, 2 electric guitar, a parlor guitar. and a homless HPS on the Bass. known also to use abnormally large guitar picks and sleep in basements of random people where ever they go. only one can really play but they still have gone platinum back in the early 90s. their genres include Rock, old school, and Ska

JAX: Hey man Where you headin??

HPS: Headin Over to the Failure to Communicate concert over at the Madison Square garden

Jax: cool men thier beast

by stingrayjay12 June 5, 2009

2👍 4👎