Emperor's new clothes

Posted by R. Berg on July 23, 2001

In Reply to: Emporer's new clothes posted by Mark on July 22, 2001

: I have only an indistinct idea of the meaning of this phrase. I am familiar with it's origin.

Its meaning is transferred from the original story to cover (!) anything that is promoted as an innovation or a reform but, on examination, proves to be nothing at all; often applied to policies announced by governments, corporations, and so forth.