Johnny-one-note
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person (or organization) who often expresses a strong opinion or viewpoint on a single subject or a few particular subjects. Canada, US, idiomatic
- 2 An opinion or viewpoint on a single subject or a few particular subjects which is frequently expressed by a person or organization. Canada, US, idiomatic
"Whether his boss (Hearst) had told him to get off his Johnny-one-note of hate toward labor leaders, foreigners and New Dealers, or whether Pegler had decided all by himself to change his tune, no one knew."
Example
More examples"Whether his boss (Hearst) had told him to get off his Johnny-one-note of hate toward labor leaders, foreigners and New Dealers, or whether Pegler had decided all by himself to change his tune, no one knew."
Etymology
Derives from the show tune Johnny One Note, from the Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms (1937), in which the lyrics tell a story of a male vocalist named Johnny who sang with a band and could sing only one note, but sang that note extremely well.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.