‘I would not call the Queen my aunt’: meaning and history
I am happy with my situation (so much so that even becoming royalty could not improve on it)—UK, 1843 as ‘I would not give sixpence to call the Queen my aunt’
Read MoreYear: 2020
‘your policemen are wonderful’: meaning and history
1928—used of British police officers, chiefly those of London, by persons, mostly women, visiting the United Kingdom—became rapidly a cliché used jocularly
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘to grow hair on a billiard ball’
to achieve the impossible—USA, 1881—originally and chiefly used with reference to hair loss treatment
Read Morehistory of ‘slower than the second coming of Christ’
extremely slow—USA, 1874—in Christian theology, the Second Coming of Christ is the prophesied return of Christ to Earth at the Last Judgement
Read Morehistory of ‘many are cold (but) few are frozen’
USA, 1885—humorous alteration of ‘many are called (but) few are chosen’, which refers to The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (gospel of Matthew, 20:1-16)
Read Morehistory of ‘— is just one damned thing after another’
USA, 1909—first with grammatical subject ‘life’, meaning ‘life consists of a succession of unpleasant or unlucky events’—then with other grammatical subjects
Read More‘let the moths out of your purse’: meaning and origin
don’t be so niggardly with your money—USA, 1935—the image is of moths that are living in a purse or wallet because it is not frequently opened
Read More‘lay on, Macduff’ | ‘lead on, Macduff’
from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’—1814 ‘lay on, Macduff’: go ahead (and give it your best try)—1855 misquotation ‘lead on, Macduff’: let’s get going, start us off
Read Moremeanings and origin of ‘to spend a penny’
UK, 1945—with allusion to the former price of admission to public lavatories: to use a public convenience—by extension: to urinate
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘street angel (and) house devil’
USA, 1878—someone who behaves exemplarily in public, but who is abusive in private life—calque of German ‘Strass-Engel Haus-Teufel’
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word histories 