Idiom
Sour grapes
Sour grapes means acting as if you never wanted something, or criticizing it, because you failed to get it.
How people use it
People use it to point out that someone's criticism really comes from disappointment: "He says the job was boring, but that's just sour grapes." It is often said about others, and people also deny it in advance: "This isn't sour grapes, but..." The key idea is putting down the thing you couldn't have, not simply envying someone else. The phrase works as a noun, as in "pure sour grapes." The tone is informal and a little critical.
Examples
- Nadia says the team that cut her is badly coached, but I think it's sour grapes.
- Calling the winning cake too sweet was pure sour grapes from the runner-up.
- This isn't sour grapes, but the concert I missed really was overpriced.
Where it comes from
It comes from one of Aesop's fables, the ancient Greek collection of short moral stories. A fox jumps again and again for a bunch of grapes hanging from a vine. When he can't reach them, he walks away saying they were probably sour anyway. The fable has been told in English for centuries, and sour grapes became the name for this kind of excuse.
Check yourself
1. After failing to get tickets, Max says the band is overrated. What could a friend call that?
Answer: Sour grapes. Sour grapes is putting down something only because you couldn't get it.
2. Which story does sour grapes come from?
Answer: The fox who couldn't reach the grapes. In Aesop's fable, a fox fails to reach some grapes and decides they must be sour.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in GRAPES.