origin of ‘castles in Spain’ and ‘castles in the air’
In French medieval chansons de geste ‘castles in Spain’ denoted fiefs that had to be conquered from the Saracens by the knights to whom they had been granted.
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the authentic origin of ‘once in a blue moon’
‘Once in a blue moon’ is a development from ‘once in a moon’, meaning ‘once a month’, hence ‘occasionally’—‘blue’ is merely a meaningless fanciful intensive.
Read Moreorigin of ‘quiz’ (“Vir bonus est quis?”)?
Originally meaning ‘person of ridiculous appearance’, ‘quiz’ (students’ slang, late 18th century) was jocularly derived from the Latin interrogative pronoun ‘quis’ in “Vir bonus est quis?” (“Who is a good man?”)—a good, ingenuous, harmless man being likely to become an object of ridicule or even of harassment.
Read Morethe nonsensical origin of ‘Kilkenny cats’
‘To fight like Kilkenny cats’ means ‘to engage in a mutually destructive struggle’.—from the tale of two cats fighting until only their tails remained (early 19th century), which was originally meant to be nothing but amusing nonsense.
Read Morethe authentic origin of ‘a pretty kettle of fish’
The phrase ‘a pretty kettle of fish’ originally referred to a net full of fish, which, when drawn up with its contents, is suggestive of confusion, flurry and disorder—‘kettle’ being a form of ‘kiddle’, a noun denoting a dam or other barrier in a river, with an opening fitted with nets to catch fish.
Read Morethe authentic origin of ‘to rain cats and dogs’
First recorded circa 1629 as ‘to rain dogs and cats’, this phrase is based on a cat-and-dog fight as a metaphor for a storm or hard rain; the theory that Jonathan Swift coined the phrase is ludicrous.
Read Moreorigin of the Lancashire phrase ‘in Dicky’s meadow’
In the phrase ‘in Dicky’s meadow’, which means ‘in trouble’, the first element is an alteration of ‘dicky’, meaning ‘hazardous’, ‘critical’.
Read Morethe multiple meanings and origins of ‘P’s and Q’s’
Sexual puns in 17th-century English theatre explain several meanings of ‘P’s and Q’s’.
Read Moreorigin of ‘Indian summer’ and French ‘l’été sauvage’
In ‘Indian summer’, the adjective ‘Indian’ merely denotes something other than that normally denoted in Europe by the simple noun ‘summer’.
Read Moremeaning and history of ‘good enough for Punch’
UK, 1872—used of a very funny joke or real-life event—refers to ‘Punch or the London Charivari’, a British weekly magazine of humour and satire
Read Moremeaning and history of ‘to write to The Times about it’
UK, 1851—is or jokingly denotes a threat made by a member of the public to write to the London newspaper The Times to express outrage about a particular issue
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘only here for the beer’
UK Ireland—only here for a bit of fun—from “I’m only here for the beer. It’s Double Diamond”, advertising slogan for Double Diamond pale ale from 1969 onwards
Read More‘how different is the home life of our own dear Queen’
a break with traditional values—at a performance of Anthony and Cleopatra, a Victorian lady allegedly contrasted Queen Victoria’s homelife to Cleopatra’s
Read Moremeaning and history of the phrase ‘feed the brute’
nourish your husband—1882 in ‘Vanity Fair’ (London)—popularised in 1885 by a cartoon by George du Maurier, published in ‘Punch, or the London Charivari’
Read Morethe phrase ‘two hairs past a freckle’ and variants
used as a jocular reply by a person who does not have a watch, when asked what the time is—also ‘half past a freckle’, ‘according to the hairs on my wrist’
Read More‘gizza job’: a phrase of the mass-unemployment age
‘give us a job’—UK, 1983—used by Yosser Hughes, a character in Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), a BBC TV drama series on the desperation bred by unemployment
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Poona’ as applied to army officers
UK, 1930s—the reactionary opinions and pompous manner of the army officers who had been stationed at Poona, a military and administrative centre in India
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘little Audrey joke’
a joke involving a pun or double entendre opening with ‘but little Audrey just laughed and laughed because she knew’—January 1926, Kansas City Star (Missouri)
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to light the (blue) touchpaper’
UK, mid-1950s—to set a course of exciting or dramatic events in motion—refers to firework instructions such as ‘light the blue touchpaper and retire immediately’
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