Alphonse and Gaston

or Alphonse-and-Gaston

adjective

1. marked by a ritualistic courtliness in which two often competing participants graciously but stubbornly defer to each other:

   a kind of Alphonse and Gaston act in which each man insisted the other go through the doorway first.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Alphonse and Gaston¹

After the title characters of a cartoon strip by American cartoonist Frederick Burr Opper (1857–1937), which first appeared in 1905

Example Sentences

Some history books will tell you that its counterbalanced cars were named Alphonse and Gaston, after two absurdly courtly Frenchmen, characters in a comic strip.

From Los Angeles Times

Why did desperate passengers, struggling to breathe, have to wait interminably while Metro officials and firefighters tried to determine whether power had been cut to the third rail so that it was safe for firefighters to mount a rescue, a bumbling pas de deux worthy of Alphonse and Gaston?

From Washington Post

Girardi, Brian Boyle and Ryan McDonagh stood in a tight triangle, playing Alphonse and Gaston with the puck.

From New York Times

Mr. Outcault's "Yellow Kid" and "Buster Brown," Mr. Opper's "Happy Hooligan" and "Alphonse and Gaston," Gene Carr's "Lady Bountiful," and Carl Schultze's "Foxy Grandpa" are types that have won friends throughout the breadth of the continent.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1901, William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal launched a cartoon featuring two overly polite friends named Alphonse and Gaston.

From BusinessWeek