"Close, but no cigar," it means that you were close to achieving your goal, but you were not successful. This phrase is only reserved for those tasks that were very close to completion. The origin of this phrase actually comes from the traveling circuses and carnivals that traveled around the United States during the late 1900s and the early part of the twentieth century. During carnivals of the current day, painted mirrors and oversized stuffed animals are given as prizes. At the early carnivals, cigars were often given as prizes. "Close, but no cigar," was often yelled by game barkers to let everyone in the area know that if a little more, "oomph," was given, the cigar could have been won. The point of this phrase was to rile people in a way that they would spend their money to see if they could win the cigar that the last person failed to get. Born: November 30, 1874 ~ Died January 24, 1965. Sir Winston, as he was later known...
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