Cluck-faced, kneehigh in nettles

Question

Again I got no homework done. The more I watched them, the madder I got. I was still a cluck-faced jerk, while Juli was laughing it up with my grandfather. Had I ever seen him smile? Really smile? I don't think so! But now he was kneehigh in nettles, laughing.

I guess cluck-faced jerk is a terrible jerk, but what "cluck-faced" indicate here?

knee high in nettles: what the meaning of this?

Stephenmatlock · Accepted Answer

"cluck-faced" on the surface mean "looks like a chicken," but I think it is a sly allusion to a very vulgar English term for a situation to something that is all ****ed up. A cluster-**** is that kind of situation. This sounds like a YA novel where they make this kind of not-quite-a-swear-word or vulgarity but everyone knows what you're trying to say.

"knee-high in nettles" is an alliterative phrase that sounds very down-home and countryfied. Nettles are stinging weeds, and knee-high of course means you're deep in them, so it's a way, again, of saying you are in a situation where everything is going very, very badly.

Cluck-faced, kneehigh in nettles

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