Alphonse and Gaston

American  

Or Alphonse-and-Gaston

adjective

1. marked by a ritualistic courtliness in which two often competing participants graciously but stubbornly defer to each other.

   a kind of Alphonse and Gaston act in which each man insisted the other go through the doorway first.

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Etymology

Origin of Alphonse and Gaston

After the title characters of a cartoon strip by American cartoonist Frederick Burr Opper (1857–1937), which first appeared in 1905

Example Sentences

Girardi, Brian Boyle and Ryan McDonagh stood in a tight triangle, playing Alphonse and Gaston with the puck.

From New York Times • Apr. 2, 2012

Now, 110 years later, economists have a name for the Alphonse and Gaston routine that's hobbling the U.S. economy: "coordination failure."

From BusinessWeek • Jun. 2, 2011

Amid elaborate bowing, scraping, and après-vous-ing, Alphonse and Gaston never managed to make it through an open doorway.

From BusinessWeek • Jun. 2, 2011

At the opening plenary session Hull and Dr. Melo, key man among the possible dissidents, began an Alphonse and Gaston act which lasted all week.

From Time Magazine Archive

And those two men bowing to each other as they meet--are they rehearsing as Alphonse and Gaston for the comedy show to-night, or are they serious?

From Where Half The World Is Waking Up The Old and the New in Japan, China, the Philippines, and India, Reported With Especial Reference to American Conditions by Poe, Clarence Hamilton