like a bump on a log

Idioms  

1. Unmoving, inactive, stupidly silent. For example, Harry just sat there like a bump on a log while everyone else joined in the fun. This simile presumably alludes to the immobility of such a protuberance. [Colloquial; mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

He never offers a suggestion for an outing and just sits like a bump on a log if we do anything as a group.

From Slate • Oct. 18, 2018

"If you expect me to sit here like a bump on a log you're making a big mistake."

From Time Magazine Archive

Then I stood around like a bump on a log, trying to screw my courage up to ask the blear eyed, red-nosed Apollo for a job.

From Danger Signals Remarkable, Exciting and Unique Examples of the Bravery, Daring and Stoicism in the Midst of Danger of Train Dispatchers and Railroad Engineers by Hill, John A.

"Why do I have to sit here like a bump on a log and do nothing!"

From Stranded in Arcady by Lynde, Francis

You invite me to dinner—a man you have never seen before—and when I come you sit like a bump on a log, and half the time I can't get a word out of you.

From The Under Dog by Smith, Francis Hopkinson