Etymologie, Etimología, Étymologie, Etimologia, Etymology, (griech.) etymología, (lat.) etymologia, (esper.) etimologio
UK Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, Regno Unito di Gran Bretagna e Irlanda del Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (esper.) Britujo
eXterne Wortlisten, (esper.) eksteruloj vortlistoj
XWHist - Word Histories

wordhistories.net
XWHist
Word Histories

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/

word histories

“AD FONTES!”


Erstellt: 2023-01

XWHist
Word Histories

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/

ALPHABETICAL INDEX

A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z – numerals – miscellany


Erstellt: 2023-01

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    2023-12



    2023-11

  • ‘A TROUT IN THE MILK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 5th Dec 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • highly convincing circumstantial evidence—USA, 1862—ascribed to Henry David Thoreau—refers to the practice of surreptitiously diluting milk with stream-water
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  • ‘WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF TEA IN CHINA?’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 2nd Dec 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • USA, 1930—a rhetorical question calling attention to a non-sequitur or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by another person—one of the phrases built on the pattern ‘what has that got to do with the price of ——?’
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  • ‘UNDER THE RADAR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 1st Dec 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.
  • USA, 1969—the phrases ‘off the radar’, ‘under the radar’ and ‘below the radar’ are used of something or someone that cannot be detected—the reference is to an aircraft flying too low to be detected by a radar
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  • ‘A BLOT ON THE LANDSCAPE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 28th Nov 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • UK, 1813, as ‘to blot the landscape’, meaning, of an ugly feature, to spoil the appearance of a place—also used figuratively of anything unsightly or unappealing that spoils an otherwise pleasant scene
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  • ‘TO BLOT ONE’S COPYBOOK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 27th Nov 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • UK, 1879, as ‘a blot on one’s copybook’: a fault, misdemeanour or gaffe which blemishes one’s reputation—‘copybook’: an exercise book with samples of scripts, in which children practised their writing
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  • ‘WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF ——?’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 25th Nov 2023.Reading time 20 minutes.
  • USA, 1832—a rhetorical question calling attention to a non-sequitur or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by another person—the noun following ‘the price of’ is irrelevant to the context in which it is used
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  • ‘ALL THE TEA IN CHINA’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 23rd Nov 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.
  • Ireland, 1891—used in negative contexts to denote rejection, especially in ‘not for all the tea in China’, meaning ‘not in any circumstances’—refers to China as a major producer of tea, and to tea as a commodity of great value
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  • ‘KNACKER’S YARD’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 22nd Nov 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • UK—1824: a slaughterhouse where old or injured horses are slaughtered and their bodies processed—1832: a notional place where ends up someone or something that is no longer useful or successful
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  • ‘LIKE A BANDICOOT ON A BURNT RIDGE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 20th Nov 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • 1894—in Australian English, the noun ‘bandicoot’, which designates an insectivorous marsupial native to Australia, has been used in numerous similes denoting deprivation or desolation
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  • ‘THE BUCK STOPS HERE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 19th Nov 2023.Reading time 22 minutes.
  • USA, 1929—the final responsibility lies with a particular person—from ‘to pass the buck’—‘buck’: in the game of poker, any object in the jackpot to remind the winner of some obligation when his or her turn comes to deal
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  • ‘CONTROL FREAK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 17th Nov 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • USA, 1967—a person with a need to exercise tight control over their surroundings, behaviour or appearance—‘freak’ is used as the second element in compounds designating a person who is obsessed with the activity, interest or thing denoted by the first element
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  • ‘SIT-DOWN MONEY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 16th Nov 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • Australia, 1976—used by Aborigines to depreciatively designate unemployment or welfare benefits—‘sit-down’ means: performed or obtained while sitting down, with the implication that no or few efforts are required
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  • ‘TO DRAW THE CRABS’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 14th Nov 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • Australia, 1932: to attract unwelcome attention or criticism—originally, WWI slang: to draw artillery fire from the enemy, in reference to crab shells, used with punning allusion to artillery shells
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  • ‘TO SELL THE FAMILY SILVER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 13th Nov 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.
  • UK, 1979—to sell a valuable resource or asset for immediate advantage—in particular: to dispose of a nation’s assets for financial gain—‘family silver’: something considered to be of great value, materially or otherwise
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  • ‘CHEWY ON YOUR BOOT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 12th Nov 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • Australia—in Australian Rules football: used as a call to discourage or distract a player in a rival team attempting to kick for goal—more widely: used to deride a person or organisation deemed to be performing poorly, or to wish someone bad luck—‘chewy’ = ‘chewing gum’
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  • ‘TO PISS IN SOMEONE’S POCKET’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 11th Nov 2023.Reading time 20 minutes.
  • Australia, 1953—to flatter someone or to (seek to) ingratiate oneself with someone, to curry favour with someone—cf. 19th-century British phrase ‘to piss down someone’s back’ (to flatter someone)
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  • ‘THE HUNGRY MILE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 10th Nov 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • Australia, 1925—a section of Sussex Street, on the Sydney waterfront, along which, in the 1920s and 1930s, unemployed wharf-labourers trudged, waiting to be handpicked for the few available jobs
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  • ‘(AS) SCARCE AS HEN’S TEETH’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 9th Nov 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • USA, 1831—very rare—since the late 17th century, the expression ‘hen’s teeth’ has been used as a type of something which is extremely rare, unattainable or non-existent
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  • ‘ONE MAN’S MEDE IS ANOTHER MAN’S PERSIAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 7th Nov 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • humorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—USA, 1929—refers to the phrase ‘the law of the Medes and Persians’, denoting something which cannot be altered
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  • ‘JACK THE PAINTER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 6th Nov 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • Australia, 1846—the name of a coarse green tea drunk in the bush—this name referred to the colour of this tea and to its awful taste
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  • ‘ONE MAN’S MEAD IS ANOTHER MAN’S POISON’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 5th Nov 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • humorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—USA, 1938—used in particular to play on the surnames ‘Mead’ and ‘Meade’
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  • ‘POMMY-BASHING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 4th Nov 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.
  • Australia & New Zealand, early 1970s—‘Pommy’: a British immigrant to Australia or New Zealand; a British (especially an English) person—‘-bashing’: the activity of abusing or attacking the people mentioned just because they belong to a particular group or community
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  • ‘POMMY SHOP STEWARD’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 3rd Nov 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • Australia, 1974—a radical British shop steward in an Australian trade union—‘Pommy’ designates a British immigrant to Australia, also a British (especially an English) person
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  • ‘WHINGEING POMMY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 2nd Nov 2023.Reading time 24 minutes.
  • Australia, 1962—an immigrant from Britain who complains about Australia—‘Pommy’: apparently a shortening of ‘pomegranate’, used to designate an immigrant from Britain


  • 2023-10

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  • ‘LIKE A ROBBER’S DOG’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 31st Oct 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.
  • Australia & UK—denotes physical ugliness; also used of temporary states such as tiredness, hangover, anger, etc. (Australia, 1946)—also denotes rapidity (Australia, 1947)
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  • ‘LIKE A BEATEN FAVOURITE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 30th Oct 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.
  • Australia, 1982—denotes physical ugliness
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  • ‘A HATFUL OF ARSEHOLES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 29th Oct 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • Australia, 1957, as ‘a hatful of bronzas’—used in similes expressing notions such as ugliness and silliness
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  • ‘SILLY AS A WHEEL’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 28th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • Australia, 1931—extremely silly—the underlying notion is probably that anything is silly that does all the hard work
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  • ‘TO DOT THE I’S AND CROSS THE T’S’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 27th Oct 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • USA, 1820—with reference to cursive writing: to pay attention to every detail, especially when finishing off a task or undertaking; to be accurate and precise
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  • ‘TO SHOOT THE BREEZE’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 26th Oct 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • USA, 1909—to converse idly, to gossip; to talk nonsense or to exaggerate the truth
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  • ‘DOLE BLUDGER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 24th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • Australia & New Zealand—a person who exploits the system of unemployment benefits by avoiding gainful employment—first used in 1974 by the Australian Minister for Labor and Immigration Clyde Cameron in reference to young people who migrated to the Gold Coast
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  • ‘TO THROW A WOBBLY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 23rd Oct 2023.Reading time 21 minutes.
  • also ‘to throw a wobbler’—New Zealand, 1964—to lose one’s self-control in a fit of nerves, temper, panic, etc.—‘wobbly’, also ‘wobbler’, denotes a fit of temper or panic
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  • ‘A WHIM-WHAM FOR A GOOSE’S BRIDLE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 20th Oct 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • also ‘a wigwam for a goose’s bridle’—UK, 1836—denotes something absurd or preposterous; now typically used evasively in response to an unwanted or annoying question
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  • AN AUSTRALIAN USE OF ‘BOTTOM OF THE HARBOUR’
  • 18th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • 1980—a tax evasion scheme in which a company and its records vanish completely (figuratively to the bottom of the harbour, originally Sydney Harbour) with an unpaid tax bill
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  • ‘CHECKOUT CHICK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 17th Oct 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • colloquial—USA, 1949—a female employee who works at a supermarket checkout counter—is also occasionally applied to males
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  • ‘LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 15th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • a person who struggles for a livelihood, and who displays great determination in so doing—Australia, 1974—originally applied to the Australian television host, radio presenter and singer Ernie Sigley
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  • ‘OFF ONE’S PANNIKIN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 14th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • Australia, 1879—the noun ‘pannikin’ has been used figuratively in the sense of ‘the head’ in the dated slang phrase ‘off one’s pannikin’, meaning: ‘off one’s head’, ‘out of one’s wits’, ‘crazy’
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  • ‘GLITTERATI’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 13th Oct 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • the celebrities of the fashionable literary and show-business world—USA, 1944—blend of ‘glitter’ ((to make) a brilliant appearance or display) and of ‘literati’ (intellectuals)
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  • ‘TO COME DOWN ON SOMEONE LIKE A TON OF BRICKS’: MEANINGS AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 11th Oct 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • to attack or punish someone with great vigour; to reprimand someone severely—USA, 1862; New Zealand, 1863
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  • ‘TO HAVE A SHOT IN THE LOCKER’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 10th Oct 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • to have something in reserve but ready for use; to have a chance or opportunity remaining—nautical, USA, 1789—‘shot’: a projectile designed for discharge from a firearm—‘locker’: the compartment for keeping ammunition on a ship
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  • ‘(AS) THICK AS A BRICK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 9th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • very stupid—popularised by Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick as a Brick’ (1972), but already existed—in early use (19th century) applied to nouns such as ‘skull’ and ‘head’, used metonymically for ‘intelligence’
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  • ‘UNDER THE WEATHER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 8th Oct 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • USA, 1815—not completely well; slightly ill or depressed—the image is of a ship caught in a storm (the noun ‘weather’ has long been used to denote a storm)
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  • 2023-09


  • ‘HIP-POCKET NERVE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 7th Oct 2023.Reading time 5 minutes.
  • Australia, 1946—an imaginary nerve that reacts whenever demands are made on one’s money, especially in the context of government proposals to increase taxes—first used, if not coined, by Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (1945-49)
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  • ‘TO KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD’: MEANING, ORIGIN (?), AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 6th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • to delay dealing with a difficult situation—USA, 1983—may refer to toying idly with a discarded can while walking down a road or street
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  • ‘TO PUT ONE’S CUE IN THE RACK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 2nd Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • USA, late 19th century—to give up, to retire, also, occasionally, to die—from the image of a billiard-player putting the cue back in the rack when the game is over
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  • ‘WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS, BUSH WEEK?’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 1st Oct 2023.Reading time 22 minutes.
  • Australia, 1938—an indignant response to someone who is taking the speaker for a fool—alludes to the condescending way in which townspeople treated people from the country during bush week (i.e., a festival held in a town or city, celebrating bush produce, activities, etc.)
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  • ‘TO KICK THE TYRES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 29th Sep 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • USA, early 1960s—to test, check or research the condition or quality of a product, service, etc., before purchase or use—alludes to the practice consisting for a prospective buyer in kicking the tyres of a motorcar when inspecting it
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  • MEANING AND ORIGIN OF THE POLITICAL TERM ‘DOG WHISTLE’
  • 27th Sep 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • the targeting of a potentially controversial message to specific voters while avoiding offending those voters with whom the message will not be popular—Canada, 1995—the image is that, like the sound made by a dog whistle, the message is only fully audible to those at whom it is directly aimed
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  • ‘TO KICK INTO THE LONG GRASS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 26th Sep 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • UK politics, 1962—to delay dealing with something, in the hope that it will be forgotten—from the image of sending a ball into the tall grass off the playing field during a sporting event, which interrupts this event
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  • ‘BRIDEZILLA’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 25th Sep 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • USA, 1995—a woman thought to have become intolerably obsessive or overbearing in planning the details of her wedding—from ‘Godzilla, the suffix ‘-zilla’ is used to form humorous nouns which depict a person or thing as a particularly fearsome, relentless or overbearing example of its kind
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  • ‘POPEMOBILE’: ORIGINAL MEANING
  • 24th Sep 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • USA, 1969—the 1964 Lincoln Continental specially built and equipped for Pope Paul VI’s 1965 visit to the United States
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  • ‘WHEN THE BAND BEGINS TO PLAY’: MEANING (AND ORIGIN?)
  • 23rd Sep 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • UK, 1879—when matters become difficult or serious—of obscure origin—perhaps originally in reference to a music-hall song of that title, interpreted from 1870 onwards by Annie Adams
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  • ‘NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHIMPER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 21st Sep 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • early 1930s—in an anti-climactic, disappointing way (used of something that comes to an end)—alludes to the last line of The Hollow Men (1925), by T. S. Eliot
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  • ‘THE LUNATICS ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 20th Sep 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • UK, 1886—those in charge of an organisation, project or initiative lack the fundamental qualities needed to fulfil their responsibilities
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  • ‘THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR IT’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 19th Sep 2023.Reading time 21 minutes.
  • USA, 1930—used either literally or of something that should not or cannot be named or mentioned—alludes to ‘The Greeks Had a Word for It’, the title of a 1930 stage play by Zoe Akins
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  • ‘ONE MAN’S MEAT IS ANOTHER MAN’S POISSON’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 17th Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • humorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—Australia, 1872—used in particular of the opposition between flesh-eating and fish-eating in relation to the religious observance of fasting
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  • ‘TO FACE THE MUSIC’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 16th Sep 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.
  • to accept or confront the inevitable, or the unpleasant consequences of one’s actions—USA, 1833—origin uncertain and disputed
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  • ‘LIKE A DOG WITH A BONE’: MEANINGS, ORIGIN AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 15th Sep 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • UK, 1810—tenacious, persistent, obstinate—unwilling to yield, to relent or to let go—unable to set aside a preoccupation or obsession—the image is that a dog with a bone will not let go of that bone, no matter what
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  • ‘(AS) CUNNING AS A MAORI DOG’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 14th Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • very cunning—New Zealand, 1908—‘Maori dog’: a dog of Polynesian origin; also any mongrel dog associated with Maori settlements or living in a wild state
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  • ‘PART OF THE FURNITURE’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 13th Sep 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.
  • USA, 1834—a member of a group, organisation, etc., who is so familiar as to be regarded as a permanent feature, and therefore often taken for granted
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  • ‘TO BLOW A FUSE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 11th Sep 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • literally (USA, 1889): to cause a fuse to melt—figuratively (USA, 1908): to lose one’s temper—from ‘fuse’, denoting a safety device placed in an electric circuit
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  • ‘SHRINKFLATION’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 9th Sep 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • the practice of reducing a product’s amount or volume per unit while continuing to offer it at the same price—blend of ‘shrink’ and ‘inflation’—2014—apparently coined by Pippa Malmgren
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  • ‘TO BLOW A GASKET’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 6th Sep 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • to lose one’s temper—USA, 1913—in an internal-combustion engine, a gasket is sealing layer between adjoining surfaces—hence ‘to blow (out) a gasket’ (USA, 1874): to have a gasket come loose due to excess pressure
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  • ‘GAME, SET (AND) MATCH’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 4th Sep 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • literally (UK, 1876): a victory in a tennis match, secured by winning the deciding game of the last set required to win—in extended use (UK, 1906): a complete and decisive victory
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  • ‘LOONY LEFT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 3rd Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • a very radical, extreme or fanatical left-wing faction within a political party or the political spectrum—USA, 1945, as ‘loony leftists’
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  • ‘LUNATIC FRINGE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 1st Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • USA, 1913: a minority group regarded as eccentric, extremist or fanatical, or simply stupid—but originally, USA, 1874: a woman or girl’s hairstyle in which the front is cut straight and square across the forehead


  • 2023-08


  • ‘IDIOT FRINGE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 31st Aug 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • USA, 1927: a minority group regarded as eccentric, extremist or fanatical, or simply stupid—but originally, UK, 1873: a woman or girl’s hairstyle in which the front is cut straight and square across the forehead
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  • ‘TOM THUMB’ USED IN REFERENCE TO GOLF
  • 30th Aug 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • first used by Frieda Carter, Tennessee, 1928—in expressions such as ‘Tom Thumb golf course’, ‘Tom Thumb’ refers to a form of golf played on a small-scale course, or to a novelty putting course consisting of a variety of obstacles
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  • ‘MUGSHOT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 29th Aug 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • U.S. slang, 1935—a photograph of a person’s face, especially in police or other official records—from ‘mug’ (a person’s face) and ‘shot’ (a single photographic exposure)
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  • A FIGURATIVE USE OF ‘TIGER’
  • 25th Aug 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • characterises a person who has an insatiable appetite for something—especially in ‘tiger for work’ (Australia, 1857) and ‘tiger for punishment’ (New Zealand, 1911)
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  • ‘TO PUT SPORT BACK ON THE FRONT PAGES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 23rd Aug 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • Australia, 1978—used of a desirable state of political stability—alludes to a remark made by Malcolm Fraser, Leader of the Liberal Party, during the campaign for the 1975 Australian federal election
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  • ‘JUKEBOX’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 22nd Aug 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • a coin-operated phonograph (typically in a gaudy, illuminated cabinet) having a variety of records that can be selected by push button—USA, 1939—earlier appellation: jook organ (Florida, 1937)
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  • ‘GAIETY OF NATIONS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 21st Aug 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • enjoyment or pleasure shared by a large number of people—coined by Samuel Johnson in his posthumous homage to David Garrick published in Prefaces, biographical and critical, to the works of the English poets (London, 1779)
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  • ‘TO MAKE THE FUR FLY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 20th Aug 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • to cause trouble or an argument—USA, 1814—based on the image of cats fighting
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  • ‘RUMPY-PUMPY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 19th Aug 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • sexual intercourse—Scotland, 1968—reduplication (with variation of the initial consonant and addition of the suffix ‘-y’) of the noun ‘rump’, denoting a person’s buttocks
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  • ‘STONE THE CROWS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 11th Aug 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • exclamation of surprise, regret or disgust—New Zealand and Australia, early 20th century—one of several similar phrases, such as ‘starve the rats’, expressing those feelings
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  • ‘MONOKINI’: MEANING, ORIGIN AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 9th Aug 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • a woman’s topless swimsuit, consisting of the lower half of a bikini—from the prefix ‘mono-’ and ‘-kini’ in ‘bikini’, reinterpreted as containing the prefix ‘bi-’—coined in 1946 by French clothing designer Louis Réard
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  • ‘WAHINE TOA’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 8th Aug 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • a brave Maori female warrior; by extension, any strong or brave woman—New Zealand—in Maori, 1873—in English, 1902—from ‘wahine’ (a Maori woman or wife) and ‘toa’ (a brave Maori male warrior)
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  • ‘(AS) FULL AS A BOURKE-STREET TRAM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 4th Aug 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.
  • drunk—Australia, 1983—refers to Bourke Street, one of the main streets in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria—in Australian English, the adjective ‘full’ is used in various phrases referring to drunkenness
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  • ‘NOT TO KNOW WHETHER IT’S TUESDAY OR BOURKE STREET’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 3rd Aug 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • Australia, 1952—used of a state of confusion or stupidity—refers to Bourke Street, in Melbourne, Victoria
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  • ‘BLOCKBUSTER’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 2nd Aug 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • USA, 1942: a large aerial bomb that can destroy a whole block of buildings—USA, 1942: a thing of enormous impact, power or size
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  • 2023-07


  • ‘TO FLY OFF THE HANDLE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 31st Jul 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • to become very agitated or angry, especially without warning or adequate reason—USA, 1816—from the image of the head of an axe or other tool becoming detached from its handle
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  • ‘COMET WINE’ | ‘COMET VINTAGE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 30th Jul 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • a wine, or a vintage, produced in a year in which a notable comet appeared, and therefore thought to be of superior quality—UK—‘comet wine’ 1817—‘comet vintage’ 1819
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  • ‘SLEEPING POLICEMAN’ | ‘GENDARME COUCHÉ’
  • 27th Jul 2023.Reading time 26 minutes.
  • a raised band across a road, designed to make motorists reduce their speed—1961—based on the image of a policeman lying asleep in the middle of a road—in early use often with reference to Jamaica
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  • ‘SHORT FUSE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 25th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • a tendency to lose one’s temper easily—USA, 1942—‘fuse’ refers to a device by which an explosive charge is ignited—adjective ‘short-fused’: USA, 1952
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  • ‘CLIFFHANGER’: MEANINGS, ORIGIN AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 23rd Jul 2023.Reading time 17 minutes.
  • a suspenseful ending to an episode of a serial; the serial itself—USA, early 1930s—originally referred to serials which ended episodes with their protagonists literally hanging from cliffs, or in similarly dangerous situations
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  • ‘TO SNATCH VICTORY FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT’ | ‘TO SNATCH DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY’
  • 22nd Jul 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • ‘to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat’: to win a battle, contest, etc., when defeat seemed inevitable—‘to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’: to be defeated in a battle, contest, etc., when victory seemed inevitable
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  • ‘FLOPBUSTER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 21st Jul 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • a film which fails to achieve the commercial success that was expected—UK, 1986—from ‘flop’ (a failure) and ‘-buster’ in ‘blockbuster’ (a film which achieves great commercial success)
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  • ‘BACK O’ BOURKE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 20th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • a remote and sparsely populated inland area of Australia—1896, in a poem by William Henry Ogilvie—refers to Bourke, the most remote town in north-western New South Wales
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  • ‘GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARD’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 19th Jul 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • something that enables a person to evade punishment, adverse consequences or an undesirable situation—refers to a card in the game of Monopoly which allows a player to leave the jail square
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  • ‘THE SCHOOL OF (THE) HARD KNOCKS’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 17th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • the experience of a life of hardship regarded as a means of instruction—USA, 1870
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  • ‘TO WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 16th Jul 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • to walk with arms extended, elbows and wrists bent at right angles, one arm up, one down—1962 in To Kill a Mockingbird—refers to the representation of the human body by the ancient Egyptians
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  • ‘THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 15th Jul 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.
  • USA, 1854—the experience of life regarded as a means of instruction, in contrast to formal (higher) education—now often used with the implication that life experience is of greater benefit than formal education
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  • ‘TALKING HEAD’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 14th Jul 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • USA, 1963—frequently in plural: a person on television who is shown merely speaking, as in a newscast or an interview
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  • ‘TO DRIVE A COACH AND HORSES THROUGH SOMETHING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 13th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • 1691—to expose the flaws in something such as a law, a policy, an argument or a belief—these flaws are likened to holes large enough to drive a coach and horses through them
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  • ‘BLUE FUNK’ (AMERICAN USAGE)
  • 11th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • a state of depression or despair—1893—a shift in meaning of the British-English expression ‘blue funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread (the original meaning in American English)
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  • ‘BLUE FUNK’ (BRITISH AND IRISH USAGE)
  • 10th Jul 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • a state of extreme nervousness or dread—UK, mid-19th century—‘blue’ is an intensifier of ‘funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread
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  • ‘UGLY DUCKLING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 9th Jul 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.
  • a person or thing, initially ugly or unpromising, that changes into something beautiful or admirable—New Zealand, 1848—from Hans Christian Andersen’s story about a supposed ugly duckling that turns out to be a swan
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  • ‘TWELVE GOOD MEN AND TRUE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 8th Jul 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • a jury in a lawcourt—17th century—but the selection of twelve good men and true to form a jury was mentioned in the 16th century
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  • ‘BLUE FLU’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 7th Jul 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • absenteeism among police officers (and by extension other workers) who claim to be ill but are in fact absent to support union contract demands or negotiations—USA, 1967—alludes to the traditional colour of police uniforms
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  • ‘NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 6th Jul 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.
  • two different people or things are totally incompatible—1901—alludes to “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” in Ballad of East and West (1892), by Rudyard Kipling
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  • ‘MARK TWAIN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 5th Jul 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • 1809—U.S. nautical, obsolete: the two-fathom mark on a sounding-line—Samuel Langhorne Clemens chose it as his pen-name in 1863, but a pilot named Isaiah Sellers had first used it as his pen-name
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  • ‘LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 4th Jul 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • a long-awaited sign that a period of hardship or adversity is nearing an end—UK, 1862—the image is of a railway tunnel, and the phrase has been used literally
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  • ‘KANGAROO COURT’ AND SYNONYMS: MEANINGS AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 3rd Jul 2023.Reading time 31 minutes.
  • also ‘mustang court’ and ‘kangaroo inquest’—USA, 1840—a mock court that disregards or parodies existing principles of law; any tribunal in which judgment is rendered arbitrarily or unfairly
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  • ‘KANGAROO CLOSURE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 2nd Jul 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • UK, 1909—parliamentary procedure: a form of closure by which the chair or speaker selects certain amendments for discussion and excludes others—based on the image of a kangaroo leaping over obstacles
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  • 2023-07


  • ‘WHEELIE BIN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 30th Jun 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • UK, 1983—a large, rectangular dustbin with a hinged lid and wheels on two of the corners—bins on wheels were introduced into the United Kingdom in 1980 on the model of what was done in the Federal Republic of Germany
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  • ‘TO TALK TURKEY’: ORIGINAL MEANING, EARLY OCCURRENCES (AND ORIGIN?)
  • 28th Jun 2023.Reading time 30 minutes.
  • USA, 1792—to say to a person the things that they want to hear—allegedly from the story of a white man and an Indian who went hunting together, and killed a turkey and a buzzard
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  • ‘TO DRIVE THE PORCELAIN BUS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 26th Jun 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • to vomit from drunkenness—U.S. students’ slang, 1980—likens the position of the hands of a person holding onto the sides of a toilet bowl while vomiting therein, to that of a bus driver’s hands holding the steering wheel
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  • ‘TECHNOSAUR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 25th Jun 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • a person who shows no proficiency in the use of information technology—USA, 1998—from ‘techno-’ in ‘technological’ and ‘technology’, and ‘-saur’ in ‘dinosaur’, i.e., a person who is unable to adapt to change
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  • ‘MICAWBERISM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 24th Jun 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
  • irresponsible or unfounded optimism—1857, apparently coined by Charles Dickens—refers to Wilkins Micawber, a character in Dickens’s novel David Copperfield (1850)
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  • ‘FARTICHOKE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 23rd Jun 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • the Jerusalem artichoke—UK, 1968—blend of ‘fart’ and ‘artichoke’ in ‘Jerusalem artichoke’—refers to the flatulence caused by eating Jerusalem artichokes
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  • ‘FLASH MOB’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 21st Jun 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • USA, 2003—a group of people organised by means of the internet, mobile phones or other wireless devices, who assemble in public to perform a prearranged action together and then quickly disperse
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  • ‘BALL AND CHAIN’ (LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE USES)
  • 20th Jun 2023.Reading time 17 minutes.
  • USA 1813—a heavy metal ball secured by a chain to a person’s leg to prevent escape or as a punishment—figuratively, mid-19th century: anything seen as a heavy restraint, especially the matrimonial bonds
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  • ‘TO HANG SOMEONE OUT TO DRY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 19th Jun 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.
  • to put someone in a difficult, vulnerable or compromising situation, especially by exposing them to blame—USA, 1945, sports—the image is of suspending wet washing in the open so that it can dry
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  • ‘BOB-A-JOB’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 14th Jun 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • UK, 1944—the slogan of the Boy Scout Association’s effort to raise money for funds by doing jobs, originally at a shilling a time
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  • ‘WORKINGTON MAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 13th Jun 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • UK, 2019—an older, white, working-class, Brexiteer, Northern-English man—coined by thinktank Onward to designate the Conservative Party’s target voter in the 2019 general election—refers to Workington, in Cumbria
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  • ‘SOD THIS FOR A GAME OF SOLDIERS’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 12th Jun 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • UK slang—expresses exasperation at a situation or course of action—military, 1941—what ‘game of soldiers’ refers to is unclear
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  • ‘BUTSKELLISM’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 11th Jun 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • UK, 1954—the economic policy of Rab Butler, Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer (1951-5), regarded as largely indistinguishable from that of Hugh Gaitskell, Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer (1950-1)—blend of ‘Butler’ and ‘Gaitskell’ plus suffix ‘-ism’
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  • ‘GARDENING LEAVE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 9th Jun 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • British, colloquial: a period during which an employee who is about to leave a company continues to receive a salary and in return agrees not to work for anyone else—origin, British Army: a paid leave between the end of one posting and the beginning of another
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  • WHY THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IS INTRINSICALLY SEXIST.
  • 4th Jun 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
  • In French, the concept of dependency underlies the semantic distribution of some basic lexical items: the female is strictly defined in her relation of dependency to the male, as a daughter or as a spouse.
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  • 2023-05


  • ‘TO DROP ONE’S AITCHES’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
  • 11th May 2023.Reading time 24 minutes.
  • also ‘to drop one’s h’s’—not to pronounce the letter h at the beginning of words in which it is pronounced in standard English—1855—1847 as ‘not to sound one’s h’s’
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  • ‘GALLIC SHRUG’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 10th May 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • a gesture (made by a French person to deny responsibility, knowledge or agreement) consisting typically in shrugging one’s shoulders while upturning one’s hands
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  • THE NAPOLEONIC ORIGIN OF ‘TO WASH ONE’S DIRTY LINEN IN PUBLIC’
  • 9th May 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • to discuss an essentially private matter, especially a dispute or scandal, in public—UK, 1819—loan translation from French ‘laver son linge sale en public’, originated by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1814
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  • ‘POTEMKIN VILLAGE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 8th May 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.
  • an impressive facade or show designed to hide an embarrassing or shabby fact or condition—1843—from the sham villages said to have been built by Grigori Potemkin to deceive Catherine II
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    • 2023-04

  • ‘GLORY BOX’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 4th Apr 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • a box in which a young woman stores clothes and household articles in preparation for her marriage—Australia, 1902—perhaps related to the British ‘glory hole’, denoting a place for storing odds and ends
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  • ‘HOPE CHEST’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 2nd Apr 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.
  • a chest or box in which a young woman collects articles towards a home of her own in the event of her marriage—USA, 1904
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    • 2023-03

  • ‘BOTTOM DRAWER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 31st Mar 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
  • a young woman’s collection of clothes and household articles, kept in preparation for her marriage—UK, 1835?—refers to the (notional?) receptacle where those clothes and household articles are supposed to be kept
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  • ‘TO TICKLE THE DRAGON(’S TAIL)’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 29th Mar 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • to undertake a dangerous or hazardous operation or activity—UK, 1867, as ‘to tickle the dragon’s nose’—‘to tickle the dragon’s tail’ was used of a nuclear experiment at Los Alamos during WWII
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  • ‘SPOILS SYSTEM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 25th Mar 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • the practice of filling appointive public offices with friends and supporters of the ruling political party—USA, 1834—from “to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy”, used in 1832 by Senator William Marcy
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  • ‘DEAD-CAT STRATEGY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 24th Mar 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.
  • the strategy consisting in deliberately making a shocking announcement in order to divert attention from a difficulty in which one is embroiled—from the image of throwing a dead cat on the table—first defined in 2013 by Boris Johnson
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  • ‘DRAMA QUEEN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 19th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • (derogatory) a person who is prone to exaggeratedly dramatic behaviour—UK, 1978
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  • ‘WET BLANKET’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 18th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • literally (1618): a blanket dampened with water so as to extinguish a fire—figuratively (1775): a person or thing that has a subduing or inhibiting effect
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  • ‘TO PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 17th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • to draw an obvious inference from available evidence—early 19th century—but ‘two and two make four’, used as as a paradigm of the obvious conclusion, is first recorded in the late 17th century
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  • ‘THAT MAKES TWO OF US’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 15th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • used conversationally to declare, often ironically, that one shares the opinion, sentiment, predicament, etc., of the previous speaker—USA, early 20th century
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  • ‘TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 14th Mar 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
  • real events and situations are often more remarkable or incredible than those made up in fiction—first occurred as ‘truth is always strange, stranger than fiction’ in Don Juan (1823), by George Gordon Byron
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  • ‘TO SWEAR LIKE A TROOPER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 13th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • to use a lot of swearwords—first used in 1713 by Joseph Addison—alludes to the fact that troopers (i.e., soldiers of low rank in the cavalry) had a reputation for coarse language and behaviour
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  • TO BE CAUGHT WITH ONE’S PANTS DOWN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 11th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
  • to be caught off-guard; to be surprised in an embarrassing or compromising situation—USA, 1886
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  • ‘THE OLDEST TRICK IN THE BOOK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 10th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
  • a ruse or stratagem that is still effective although it has been used for a long time—USA, 1929—seems to have originated in sports
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  • ‘TOWN AND GOWN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 8th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • 1750—the non-academic inhabitants (‘town’) of a university city and the resident members of the university (‘gown’, denoting the distinctive costume of a member of a university)
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  • ‘TINFOIL HAT’ (USED IN RELATION TO PROTECTION)
  • 5th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
  • alludes to the belief that such a hat or cap protects the wearer from mind control, surveillance or similar types of threat—USA, 1972 as ‘tinfoil-lined hat’
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  • ‘PIPSQUEAK’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
  • 4th Mar 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.
  • a person or thing that is insignificant or contemptible—1910—originally (1900): a type of small high-velocity shell, with reference to the high-pitched sound of its discharge and flight
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  • ‘BLOUSON NOIR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
  • 2nd Mar 2023.Reading time 20 minutes.
  • in French contexts: a young person, especially a young man, belonging to a youth subculture of the 1950s and 1960s—UK, 1959—from the noun ‘blouson’ (a short jacket) and the adjective ‘noir’ (black)
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    • 2023-02



    2023-01



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