claim to fame, one’s

A characteristic for which a person or thing is par- ticularly noted. For example, describing a bridge player who won several big titles, Alan Truscott wrote, “He had three other claims to fame. His friends knew him as an extraordinary raconteur, and . . . he was addicted to opening the bidding in a three-card major suit and perpetrated outrageous psychic bids” (New York Times, April 13, 2000). This twentieth-century cliché undoubtedly owes its popularity to its rhyme.