Well attestedNamed from the place
not in Kansas anymore
adjective · first attested 1939
One line of movie dialogue turned a real state into a byword for normality.
Said of a situation that has turned strange and far removed from the familiar.
38.5000°N -98.0000°W · Q1558
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1939
- Part of speech
- adjective
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Kansas
- In English
not in Kansas anymore
Dorothy says it to her dog after the cyclone in the 1939 film of The Wizard of Oz; the line does not appear in L. Frank Baum's book. Kansas is real, named for the Kansa people, and the idiom works only by letting the state stand in for ordinary life.
United States
All 153 entries 152 more words from United States
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