OT Definition, please

[Mary Fisher]

What does 'no-brainer' mean, please?

Mary

[EricP]

Tsk Mary!!!

Google is your friend.

[Phil L]

It means an offer too good to miss usually, or an obvious choice

[Andy Hall]

Someone from Leeds?

[Stuart]

I think it usually means a situation where the remedy or answer is so obvious you don't need to ask anyone or look for the answer

[Paul Herber]

An electric or real kettle? For you, that's a no-brainer.

[The Medway Handyman]

Shouldn't that be Someone from Leeds Like?

[Mary Fisher]

That's not a definition, it might be an example but I still don't understand it!

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

would be able to tell me :-)

Mary

[Andy Hall]

Yes, you're right...

[Mary Fisher]

"Making pumpkin pie can be a no-brainer if you use frozen pastry and canned filling."

It seemed to me that a no-brainer was something which didn't make sense, or was even wrong.

Ah well, I hope I can remember next time I hear it in context :-(

Mary

[Weatherlawyer]

Switch the telly on. There is a dick in trouble over the term making front page news. Or has been the last day or so. Unfortunately he is a no brainer so the issue will have got mangled by now.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|What does 'no-brainer' mean, please?

It, is a very slight exaggeration, meaning that you do not need a brain to understand it.

Like the meaning of 'no-brainer'?

[Paul Herber]

[Roger Mills]

I don't understand that example either!

But, to answer the original question: As others have said, it means that something is obvious and needs no brain-power to work it out.

It's in the news at the moment because either Cheney or Rumdsfeld - can't remember which or how to spell their names(!) - said something about subjecting terror suspects to mock drowning in order to get information from them was a "no-brainer" - meaning that he believed that it was the obvious thing to do (quite apart from any considerations of legality or potential torture!)

Is that any clearer?

[Frank Erskine]

It's not really English though - more of an Americanism.

Hence the allusion to "pumpkin pie".

I suppose a lot of Americanisms appeal to 'no-brainer' Brits as a result of much US TV cheap imports ;-)

[HLAH]

Something so simple that you wouldn't even consider wasting your time looking for it on the first page of a Google search, let alone enquiring like an idiot about it on a Usenet forum.

An alternative meaning is "a person who repeatedly and consistently posts to a Usenet forum whilst almost never contributing anything pertinent, relevant or helpful to the common topics of said forum."

H

[The Natural Philosopher]

It means a decision even you can see is obvious, Mary.

[The Wanderer]

Ah, but that is just being lazy! :-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No Google?

Try this one.