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Paint the Devil on the wall

Posted by ESC on November 22, 2001

In Reply to: Paint the Devil on the wall posted by Hazel Rudd on November 22, 2001

: Is there such an expression in the English language? Someone said it means making things worse than they are, i.e. the opposite of looking on the bright side. I have a feeling that it's a word-by-word translation of n idiom in a foreign language, however.

I have never heard that phrase and can't find it in any of my references. Anyone heard of it? It sounds like "painting things blacker than they are" or perhaps "hanging crepe" (the custom after a death).

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