"Cookie Cutter" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2020-09-06

0:00 - How to Say, “Cookie cutter.”
0:24 - Examples of “Cookie cutter.”
1:00 - Meaning of “Cookie cutter.”
3:50 - Origin of “Cookie cutter.”
5:20 - More Examples of “Cookie cutter.”
6:09 - Conclusion

“Cookie cutter.”

You might have heard something described as “cookie cutter”, meaning that it lacked originality, was no different, was indistinguishable from or followed along the same lines as others.

“These houses are so cookie cutter, I think we should design and build our own,” your partner might say during house hunting.

Maybe you’re shopping with your friends, “Ugh! These clothes are so cookie cutter… let’s get out of here.”

“Your art shouldn’t be so cookie cutter, you should let it reflect your personality,” your high school art teacher might say.

As you can tell, “cookie cutter” is synonymous with “carbon copy”, “mass production”, “same old, same old”, and any other word that describes an absence of uniqueness.

If you describe something as “cookie cutter”, you are saying that it is not unique, similar items are found everywhere, or that the thing is very common.

If you describe someone as “cookie cutter”, you are saying that their preferences or tastes are the same as or similar to other people in the same demographic - they are conformist.

Teenagers and other young people tend to be quite “cookie cutter”, since humans are a social animal and social groups tend to conform to norms set by the members.

In the US, people in their early 20s who seemingly haven’t grown out of this tendency toward being “cookie cutter” are sometimes described as “conformist” or “basic”, as well as other pejoratives.

In Jamaica, they say such people are “falla fashin”, or “follow fashions”, meaning that they follow or imitate the style or fashion of others.

In Taiwan, they call people like this, “butt-following pests,” or literally, “follow butt bugs”.

In Japan, they say that “zeroes” flock together in “mura” or a flock of people with zero identity.

On the other hand, in India, the name for someone that does not conform is “malang”, which is nowadays used to describe a courageous free spirit living life as she sees fit…

… though the word “malang” comes from “malangi” which was once used to describe the salt workers of the coast of Odisha, who were historically looked down upon and exploited by both the Mughals and the British.

The term “cookie cutter” is more often used to describe things rather than people and is an apt description for the mass produced, industrial-era style goods that we are faced with every day.

Indeed, cookie cutters themselves - a metal device used to create uniformly shaped cookies - are an item of mass production and only came into existence in the mid-1800s…

… and it is only in the last 50 years or so that “cookie cutter” has come to be a popular term used to describe items, and sometimes people, that conform, fit in, follow the mould.

Interestingly, “cookie cutter” is an idiom only used in Canada and America, because the British call both “cookies” and “crackers”... “biscuits”.

In Canada and the USA, cookies are sweet while crackers are savoury/salty. In Britain, biscuits are either sweet or savoury.

“That was such a cookie cutter movie! The storyline and the ending were so predictable,” your cousin might be complaining while walking out of the theatre.

Perhaps you’re discussing the meaning of life with a friend, “There’s nothing wrong with living a cookie cutter life, as long as you’re happy. We can’t all change the world…”

“The small towns here are so cookie cutter, you wouldn’t know you’re in a different town if no one told you,” you might say to your friend while on a road trip.

So, the next time you want to describe something that is exactly the same as all the others, is not unique or original, and is thus unappealing, don’t forget to describe it as “cookie cutter”.

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