banana skin

the soft outer covering of a banana

informal something unforeseen that causes an obvious and embarrassing mistake

Word Origin for banana skin

sense 2 from the common slapstick joke of a person slipping after treading on a banana skin

Her corsage was of clinging ivy leaves, in contrast to the fuller effect of her banana-skin skirt.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, May 19, 1920 |Various
"I thought you hadn't been listening," put in Banana-Skin in a quiet and torturing way.

Tell England |Ernest Raymond
The first banana-skin which a lot of fellows step on when they're put over other men is a desire to be too popular.

Old Gorgon Graham |George Horace Lorimer
Banana-Skin had a shock when he found himself seized and hurled against the opposite wall.

Tell England |Ernest Raymond

There was a banana-skin which she might naturally have trodden on, in her way to the tea-table.

Over the Teacups |Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.