one-way ticket to Palookaville
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A path or decision that leads to failure or obscurity
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Con đường hoặc quyết định dẫn đến thất bại hoặc bị lu mờ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a ticket to a place of losers
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
His poor investment choices were a one-way ticket to Palookaville
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “one-way ticket to Palookaville” mean?
A path or decision that leads to failure or obscurity Literally: a ticket to a place of losers
Is “one-way ticket to Palookaville” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.