189 Fish out of water
(PW) someone who does not fit in
She felt like a fish out of water when she went to the party in her formal dress while everyone else was wearing jeans.
(free)
Completely unfamiliar with one's surroundings or activity
(usingEnglish)
If you are placed in a situation that is completely new to you and confuses you, you are like a fish out of water.
(phraseFinder) Someone in a situation they are unsuited to.
Origin
This metaphor is quite old. Chaucer used a version of it in The Canterbury Tales: Prologue: ...a monk, when he is cloisterless; Is like to a fish that is waterless
The earliest reference that I can find to the present day wording of the phrase is in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage, 1613: "The Arabians out of the desarts are as Fishes out of the Water."
