The following are forms in which the property of interest is clear from the context; one can use this method for almost any property. Optionally, to mention the property in the same sentence, add Dubai is hot, but..., or Death Valley is so hot, ... at the front of each form.
- Dubai can't be compared to Death Valley. (Optional alternatives: "Death Valley is so hot, Dubai can hardly be compared to it" or "Death Valley is so hot, Dubai cannot hope to compare.")
- Dubai can't hold a candle to Death Valley.
- Death Valley is in a class of its own.
- Death Valley puts Dubai in the shade.
- Death Valley puts Dubai to shame. (Mostly used for things that are good. Things like 'skill', not 'heat'.)
Here are some forms where the property being compared must appear in the phrase:
- Dubai is hot, but the heat in Death Valley is of another order of magnitude entirely.
- Death Valley makes Dubai seem cool by comparison.
The original terms goofy-foot and goofy-footers (later shortened to goofy) appear to have become popular in surfing during the early sixties. I agree with FumbleFingers: it's likely both the surfing term and Disney's Goofy character comes from the earlier goofy meaning of stupid, silly, daft.
In fact, after watching the 1937 Disney animation Hawaiian Holiday, Goofy surfs with whichever foot forward makes him face us. He attempts to surf three times. The first two are unsuccessful and he can't stand up on the board. The third time is (more) successful: first he surfs left-foot forward (regular stance) towards the right, so his body is facing us. Then he turns and surfs right-foot forward (goofy stance) towards the left, again so his body is facing us.
The earliest instance I found in print is Desmond Muirhead's 1962 Surfing in Hawaii: a personal memoir:
People who put their right foot forward are called 'goofy foots'.
2007's The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English agrees with 1962:
goofy foot noun a surfer who surfs with the right foot forward. Most surfers surf with their left foot forward. AUSTRALIA 1962
A 1963 Paradise of the Pacific magazine defines some surfing terms:
As or the language, it is probably altogether as intelligible to the unpractised ear as Kurdish might be in Kansas City. In the lexicon in use by the cult, a surfer is a cork top, beginners are gremlins or kooks, a loudmouth a hodad; a goofy foot, a strange type; a hot dogger, an expert.
A May 1963 Billboard picks out Shean and Jenkins with their Goofy Footer Ho-Dad single (listen on YouTube) as a winner in their novelty spotlight of the week, selected for "potential to become top sellers".
Two very funny sides that could attract play and sales. ... Flip is somewhat on the surf kick with a sort of beatnik poeatry narrative. Funny material, well carried off.
A June 1963 Billboard magazine lists a record by The Lively Ones called Goofy Foot as a four-star single (listen on YouTube).
The four-star rating is awarded to new singles with sufficient commerical potential in their respecitive categories to merit being stacked by dealers, one-stops and rack jobbers handling that category.
These show the term was becoming more popular and widespread.
An early etymology is suggested by the 1970 Studies in English by the University of Cape Town's Department of English says:
Surfers who have a right foot forward stance are known as goofy-footers, or simply goofy surfers. This is doubtless derived from the older American expression "goofy", which means "ridiculous, silly, . . . nutty".
Best Answer
This is a correct locution for expressing what you have in mind, as shows the folowing OALD definition.
There is, however, another one, which is "what with" (it's the object of user 121863's answwer). I couldn't assert which of the two locutions is more common or preferred but it seems to me that "what with" would be somewhat more expressive, maybe because of its carrying no ambiguity.