squel.html - adjectival phrase Also written squeaky-clean (Politics) (Of
hair ) washed and rinsed so clean that it squeaks, completely clean; hence used figuratively (especially in political contexts): above criticism, beyond
reproach . Etymology: Formed by combining the two adjectives squeaky and clean; normally an adjective would not qualify another adjective in this way in English, so some speakers might
prefer squeakily clean. History and Usage: The phrase seems to have come originally from
shampoo or
detergent advertising, although it has also been suggested that it was used by army sergeant majors of
boots and other surfaces that had to be so highly polished that they squeaked. The first figurative uses date from the mid seventies. To describe a politician or some other
public figure as squeaky clean is perhaps not altogether a compliment: it can certainly imply disappointment on the
part of the person using it that the personality concerned is unlikely to be the subject of any scandal, and sometimes it also implies an image that is hard to believe, or 'too good to be true'. Squeaky-clean in body and mind, the Preppy
is the
class swot and jolly-good-all-rounder all grown up. Sunday Express
Magazine 17 Sept. 1989, p.
18 Mr Pearson maintained...control over every aspect of his children's rise to fame as squeaky clean pop group Five Star. Punch 13 July 1990, p. 33
