"Can't act your way out of a paper bag", what does it mean?

[Metasomatized Ijolite]

I frequently hear people insulting a bad actor/actress by saying "They can't act their way out of a paper bag". Can someone please explain to me WTF that is supposed to mean? What does acting have to do with paper bags? This just makes no sense to me at all.

 

[myway]

ok. hi.
Who are u?

..... but yea. agreed. I don't get it,either.

 

[Metasomatized Ijolite]

ok. hi.
Who are u?

..... but yea. agreed. I don't get it,either.

Hi, I'm Metasomatized Ijolite. I'm glad that I'm not the only person confused by that idiom.

 

[Razorguns]

It means if someone put a paper bag over your head, you couldn't find a way to get out of it.

Basically an insult, that you're a klutz. The point is not the literal meaning, but the inference behind it. Which is, you're an idiot.

It comes from the same part of the planet that created the pot calling the kettle black.

r

 

[Metasomatized Ijolite]

It means if someone put a paper bag over your head, you couldn't find a way to get out of it.

Basically an insult, that you're a klutz. The point is not the literal meaning, but the inference behind it. Which is, you're an idiot.

It comes from the same part of the planet that created the pot calling the kettle black.

r

But why is it related to acting in particular? I can sort of understand it as being a general insult ( a lame one though) to a person's intelligence, but not to their acting ability.

 

[myway]

But why is it related to acting in particular? I can sort of understand it as being a general insult ( a lame one though) to a person's intelligence, but not to their acting ability.

Yea. Wut u said.

 

[nimbus]

it started out with 'fight,' and then gradually became applied to more and more verbs making less and less sense

 

[Metasomatized Ijolite]

it started out with 'fight,' and then gradually became applied to more and more verbs making less and less sense

OK, so other people are stupid for using that phrase. I was worried that I was stupid for not understanding it.

 

[Razorguns]

But why is it related to acting in particular? I can sort of understand it as being a general insult ( a lame one though) to a person's intelligence, but not to their acting ability.

It can be used for anything that is a verb. like "He can't post his way out of a paper bag", or "she can't suck her way out of a paper bag"

r

 

[UA_Iron]

I got an even better question...

Vaughan

How in the fuck do you fit that many silent letters in one word????