Definition of: "lights are on but nobody is home" with explanation and origin

Definition of: lights are on but nobody is home with explanation and origin? Meaning of lights are on but nobody is home with examples in English idiom dictionary.

English	English

Definition of: "lights are on but nobody is home" with explanation and origin

lights are on but nobody is home

lights are on and nobody is home

Meaning

• used to describe a stupid person.
• refers to a person who is not very bright.
• a daydreamer.
• a person whose mind is elsewhere
• an otherwise intelligent person who is not using their brain.
• someone who is not at all alert.
• something that you say when you think someone is stupid.
• when someone does not react because they are thinking about something else.
• have a brain, but not using it.
• used to tell that someone lacks cleverness or alertness.

Example Sentence

1. No matter how hard I try to understand what Jim is talking about, it is apparent that his lights are on but nobody is home.
2. Because her lights are on but nobody is home, she has no idea what the group has decided.
3. The team is trying to get Mark to provide his input, but he is unable to do so because his lights are on but nobody’s home.
4. I tried to understand him, but the lights are on but nobody is home.
5. John has no idea about this – the lights are on but nobody’s home.
6. Lilly studied interior design, but the lights are on and nobody is home.

Origin

Originated in America, people have been using this idiom since at least the 1970s. The phrase first appeared in print in 1974, in Jason A. Colquitt’s book Organizational Behavior.

If you were to take this phrase literally, it would mean that you are looking at a building that has all of its lights switched on. Because of this, it would be logical to assume that the property is occupied or otherwise in use. In reality, it is empty and void of any action. This has been taken to describe a person who may be standing right in front of you, but whose mind is somewhere else. You can be looking right at them and have it appear that their lights are fully switched on, only to discover that they have no clue what is going on around them. 

While no one person is coined with coming up with this idiom, it appears to have developed in response to a growing number of people starting to become aloof when being spoken to. People noticed that certain individuals seemed to be a lot slower than normal when listening to and responding to the most basic of conversations. Even though they were physically present, their mind would obviously be elsewhere. This idiom also refers to a person who has the habit of not paying attention when being spoken to.

The Origins of lights are on but nobody is home

English

Related Dictionary

• English Definition & Meaning Dictionary
• English Idioms and phrases Dictionary
• Dictionnaire Français
• Dictionnaire d'expressions idiomatiques et de phrases en français

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English Idioms and phrases

An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below). By another definition, an idiom is a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements.[3] For example, an English speaker would understand the phrase "kick the bucket" to mean "to die" – and also to actually kick a bucket. Furthermore, they would understand when each meaning is being used in context.

To evoke the desired effect in the listener, idioms require a precise replication of the phrase: not even articles can be used interchangeably (e.g. "kick a bucket" only retains the literal meaning of the phrase but not the idiomatic meaning).

Idioms should not be confused with other figures of speech such as metaphors, which evoke an image by use of implicit comparisons (e.g., "the man of steel"); similes, which evoke an image by use of explicit comparisons (e.g., "faster than a speeding bullet"); or hyperbole, which exaggerates an image beyond truthfulness (e.g., "more powerful than a locomotive"). Idioms are also not to be confused with proverbs, which are simple sayings that express a truth based on common sense or practical experience.