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

See Examples For:

Alphonse and Gaston

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

In 1901, William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal launched a cartoon featuring two overly polite friends named Alphonse and Gaston.

From BusinessWeek ● Jun. 2, 2011

At the top level, away from the streets, U.S. and Soviet commandants went through an Alphonse and Gaston exchange calculated to observe the diplomatic niceties without meeting face to face.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thereupon he and his opponent usually began a sort of Alphonse and Gaston species of concessions which ended in Saylor convincing the man to his way of thinking.

From Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The Searchlight by Mathew Joseph Holt