This month we’re looking at a colloquial way of describing people who are somewhat lacking in intelligence (i.e. they’re a bit stupid). Here’s an example, “He’s a few sheep short of a flock.” In this example, the person (“he”) is compared to a complete set (“a flock of sheep”). However, the set is not complete (not all the sheep are there – they’re a few short), and neither is the person (he’s a bit stupid). The idea is that there’s something missing from both the set and the person. Here are some more examples.
1 He’s a few burgers short of a barbecue.