a curate's egg



a curate's egg

  (British)
something which has both good and bad parts
Usage notes: A curate is a priest. There is a joke about a curate who was given a bad egg and said that parts of the egg were good because he did not want to offend the person who gave it to him.
Queen's College is something of a curate's egg, with elegant Victorian buildings alongside some of the ugliest modern architecture.
See also: egg

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Vlastimila-Czech
PanchoPAHN-choSpanish
Bozhidar-Bulgarian, Macedonian, Medieval Slavic
Matteusmaht-TE-oosSwedish, Norwegian
Doireann-Irish, Irish Mythology
Ercan-Turkish