English

Phrase

Homer nods

1. (idiomatic) Even a great person makes mistakes.
   • 1677 "Horace acknowledges that honest Homer nods sometimes" (Dryden, Preface to The State of Innocence)
   • 1709. Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism (poem):

     Those oft are stratagems which errors seem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. (Essay on Criticism)

   • 1713 "He knows that Homer nods sometimes, and that Faults are found in the best writers." (N. Rowe, A Defence of M. de La Bruyère p. p. 102)
   • 2009. James Taranto, Wall Street Journal, When Pigs Flu, April 27, 2009 :

     And Homer nods: The Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles played in this year's NFC championship, not NFL championship as we said in a Friday follow-up (since corrected).

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