The word cardboard appears in a few slang expressions and idioms, most notably relating to fake or cheap qualities, or inspiring French colloquialisms.
Common Slang and Idioms
- Cardboard character: A flat, poorly written, or unrealistic person in a story or movie who lacks emotional depth.
- Cardboard city: A slang term for a makeshift shantytown or area where homeless people sleep in cardboard boxes.
- Cockney rhyming slang: In traditional British rhyming slang, a « cardboard box » is sometimes used as a rhyme for syphilis.
French Connection (Cartonner)In French slang, the word for cardboard—carton—gives life to the popular verb cartonner, meaning to be a massive success or hit.
- This comes from mid-20th-century carnival shooting galleries where hitting the cardboard target (faire un carton) meant you scored big
Cardboard is a heavy, stiff paper-based material used to make boxes, packaging, and crafts.
Physical Definition
- Material: Thick, pressed paper pulp or paperboard.
- Types: Ranges from single-ply heavy paper to multi-layer corrugated fiberboard.
- Color: Usually light brown, grey, or white.
Figurative Meaning
As an adjective, cardboard describes something that is:
- Flimsy: Thin, weak, or lacking physical strength (« cardboard walls »).
- Shallow: Unreal, fake, or lacking emotional depth, like poorly written characters in a story.