bijou problemette

English

Etymology

bijou (“small, little”) + problem + -ette

Noun

bijou problemette (plural bijou problemettes or bijoux problemettes)

1. (UK, originally Polari, informal, humorous) A little fault or problem.
   • 1995 November 29, Nick Thompson, “Re: Eurostar”, in misc.transport.rail.europe‎^[1] (Usenet):

     A bijou problemette then arose. The conference finished too late for me to catch the northbound Eurostar Connection Waterloo-Edinburgh train.

   • 1999 February 11, Simon Nickerson, “Re: Trivia Quiz -- an announcement”, in alt.fan.eddings‎^[2] (Usenet):

     There is also the "bijou problemette" (as my old chemistry teacher would say) that members of this consortium can't legitimately enter the quiz, since they wrote some of the questions.

   • 2001 April 6, Peter Bartley, “The PC that runs once a day...”, in uk.comp.peripherals.misc‎^[3] (Usenet):

     I have a '‌bijou problemette‌' with my PC. It only works after a period of being switched off.

   • 2013 October 2nd, “ppint. at pplay” (username), “Re: the balfour declaration” in alt.fan.pratchett, Usenet:

     So Italy had a couple of bijoux problemettes; Mussolini had more, once he’d been dismissed as leader of the Fascist Party, and from leading the government of the country, he was arrested and gaoled by the Italians…

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bijou problemette.