separation of church and state

The phrase comes from US Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who wrote of "a wall of separation between church and state" in 1802.

1. The idea that a government should not involve itself in issues of religion. Of course there should be a separation of church and state! You don't want the government dictating which faith you practice, do you?

2. By extension, the treatment of any two related things as separate entities. OK, we need some separation of church and state here—I don't want my personal money to keep getting mixed up with the money I'm setting aside for taxes.

See also: and, church, of, separation, state

six degrees of separation

The notion that any two people have a shared social connection through six or fewer acquaintances. A: "Can you believe it? My aunt's banker has a niece who goes to college with a girl whose nanny grew up next-door to your mother!" B: "Wow, six degrees of separation, eh?"

six degrees of separation

The idea that everyone on earth may be linked to anyone else through a chain of connections. This newer phrase for it’s a small world was the title of a play and the movie based on it (1993) by John Guare. The term is becoming a cliché.