# Possible idiom? "out the door at the word Hamlet" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938 "2025-01-13T23:13:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/1 "2025-01-13T23:13:20Z")
I got an email the other day that included the line “out the door _at the word Hamlet_”. From context, I gather that it’s similar to ‘at the drop of a hat’ or ‘at the word go’, meaning a readiness to start with little notice or preparation needed. However, a Google search didn’t produce any hits for such an idiom, so I’m wondering if anyone else has heard such a thing, or knows what the origin of it is - something theater related? Like repertory companies being ready to put on a show at a moment’s notice, or something? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/2 "2025-01-14T01:09:41Z")
If it were “Out the door at the word Macbeth” I could understand it to reference the superstition that you don’t mention “the Scottish play” in the theater, so superstitious actors would immediately leave. But there is no such superstition about Hmalet that I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/3 "2025-01-14T02:14:11Z")
Maybe someone’s auto-incorrect put something weird in there. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/4 "2025-01-14T03:32:36Z")
Can you ask the person who sent the email? I can think of one or two things that it might mean, but I’ve never heard it either, and now that you have brought it into my awareness, I want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/5 "2025-01-14T03:43:35Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > From context, I gather that it’s similar to ‘at the drop of a hat’ or ‘at the word go’, meaning a readiness to start with little notice or preparation needed. I could _maybe_ see it’s a mis-hearing of “at the drop of a hat.” ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/6 "2025-01-14T08:00:34Z")
Or could it be someone who’s just allergic to Shakespeare? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/7 "2025-01-14T08:06:59Z")
Sounds like a transmogrified line from the play. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/8 "2025-01-14T11:35:00Z")
Well - the mystery is solved, and it turns out not to be an idiom after all, just an errant capitalization. It was referring to an earlier email that gave a scavenger hunt clue, saying that a particular county park was ‘named after a local hamlet’. Someone else got that clue right away and was the first to find the item: he was ‘out the door at the word hamlet’. Oh well, the ambiguity was fun while it lasted. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/9 "2025-01-16T00:55:19Z")
What was ‘idiom’ that came through here a while back, something about throwing something into a pit? I’m drawing a blank. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/10 "2025-01-16T00:57:56Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > What was ‘idiom’ that came through here a while back, something about throwing something into a pit? Let’s go down to the quarry and throw things in there? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-idiom-out-the-door-at-the-word-hamlet/1012938/11 "2025-01-16T16:37:53Z")
That’s the one.