- mick|ey-mouse
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U.S. Slang.1. anything unnecessary or unimportant: »
A central concern now is…the antimilitary atmosphere in the country, the low pay, and (for the younger men) the anachronistic spit-and-polish, the Mickey Mouse (Atlantic).
2. a muddled situation; foul-up: »Logistically so far, the only big Mickey Mouse, in G.I. parlance, was a brief shortage of canvas-and-rubber jungle boots (Time).
3. a) an easy or simple college course: »Some popular opinion persists, of course, that college courses in “the movies” are a kind of trade-school apprenticeship or something easy to relax with (“Mickey Mouse” in today's campus parlance) (Harper's).
b) simple; easy; unimportant: »“This is no Mickey Mouse business,” [he] said…“In the old days you put together a funhouse for $3,000, now it can cost $40,000” (New York Times).
╂[< Mickey Mouse, an animated cartoon character, in allusion to its childish appeal, its simplicity and triviality]Informal. to synchronize the background music with the action, as in an animated cartoon: »The choreography…is the feeblest element in the film, with too much unimaginative “Mickey-mousing”, matching each note in the score with some movement rather than creating an overall style of dance (London Times).
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
