Ned Flanders

plural Ned Flanderses

1. A nice -- perhaps annoyingly nice -- person, especially a neighbor, who is cheery, naive, conservative in politics and in Christian faith and who may be perceived as boring, one-note or simplistic.

   On the other side of the spectrum, the local Ned Flanderses generally preferred to ignore the major local industry.

   2013, Doug Fine, Too High to Fail: Cannabis and the New Green Economic Revolution, Penguin Publishing Group, page 75

   5 more examples

   Even Highway to Heaven, an '80s show that was a little less overtly Christian but definitely was heavy on the religious overtones, ran for 111 episodes. The Ned Flanderses of the world need entertainment, and they don't care how tedious, poorly written, and inane it is. If it's sweet and reinforces Christian ideology, they're all in, baby!

   2024, Chris Morgan, 99 Episodes That Defined the '90s: Television Milestones from Arsenio to Homer to Yada Yada Yada, McFarland Incorporated, page 170

   DOWN IN THE Players and Player Characters section of this book, Erica writes about one-note characters, the Ned Flanders of role-playing games.

   2020, Aron Christensen, Erica Lindquist, Loaded Dice 2, Loose Leaf Stories

   This is not limited to gas stations. Pretzels should not be purchased or consumed anywhere. They are the Ned Flanders of snack foods. If you're dying of starvation on a desert island, and there are only pretzels around, eat a handful, then pray to the struggle snack god for the clouds to burst open and rain Doritos.

   2017, Josh Scherer, The Culinary Bro-Down Cookbook, Grand Central Publishing

   Most games, Kittle starts by even telling the colossus across the line who'd like to tear his head off, "Good luck" with an ultrakind, "Let's stay healthy." Defensive linemen have told him, in so many words, to shut the hell up and that they will eat him for lunch. He can play that game, too. He has no problem playing that game. But Kittle knows there's a benefit to acting like Ned Flanders in the middle of such a violent sport.

   2022, Tyler Dunne, The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football, Grand Central Publishing

   If U-turners do indeed have more unacknowledged darkness in their souls, it would explain why their stories tend to be messy, with plenty of collateral damage: people hurt and people left behind. The Ned Flanderses of the world do not pull U-turns. But Pascal would say, the Ned Flanderses—all virtue—never produce the Big Virtues. They are steady. And steady never created a masterpiece.

   2008, Bruce Grierson, U-Turn: What If You Woke Up One Morning and Realized You Were Living the Wrong Life?, Bloomsbury USA, page 56