‘Living under a rock’ – English idiom with meaning and examples

by Jakub Marian

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Living under a rock is a nice recent English idiom meaning “being oblivious or ignorant to what happens in the outside world”. It is used to describe a person who doesn’t know something any “normal” human being is supposed to know, usually in relation to some recent events:

This guy lives under a rock—he doesn’t even know that George Bush isn’t the president of the United States anymore.

It is most commonly used in a question (not very polite), in amazement that someone doesn’t know something the speaker considers obvious:

Have you been living under a rock? How can’t you know that Peter and Jane got married?

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