The idiom depicted in the picture above was laughing stock, wh | BM | IELTS 9.0

The idiom depicted in the picture above was laughing stock, which means a person or thing that has become the butt of jokes or is widely made fun of by others.

Example:

“After tripping over his own feet during the award ceremony, Jason became the laughing stock of his colleagues.”

Origin:
The term “stock” in the phrase “laughing stock” originally referred to the stocks used as a form of punishment in medieval times. Stocks were devices made of heavy wood, with holes for securing a person’s feet (and sometimes hands and neck), used to publicly humiliate offenders in a town or village square. The person in the stocks would be subjected to public ridicule, and sometimes people would throw rotten food or other objects at them.