I’m trying to remember a phrase but the search terms I’m using aren’t helping. It means basically, being useful as an example of what not to do or be.
Archetypical example?
(Not necessarily bad, of course…)
Epitome/quintessence of… <incompetence, e.g.>?
Negative example?
Cautionary tale?
strawman ?
an example. (all examples are bad when I say them… when the other person uses an example , its perfect .)
Although, I believe you already said it: “An example of what not to do.” It got 40 million hits on Google.
There’s also: “Leading by bad example.” (53K hits)
And “negative example” get 163K hits.
That’s the one that popped into my mind.
Counter example?
Negative object lesson.
Wrong.
stupid shit.
That’s what I was thinking.
Object lesson works too.
Weak tea.
I am not completely useless, at least i can be used as a bad example.
Or this:
“No man is completely useless; he can always serve as a bad example.”
…:rolleyes:
I think this was it, thanks! I think I once heard a quote that went something like “if you can’t be a role model, you can always be the X”. Cautionary tale fits. Although Dead’s phrase seems similar, what’s that from?
There’s “Warning to Others”, as in this Demotivator:
On Friends: “I don’t want to pull a Monica!”