‘piscinity’: meaning and origin
USA, 1859—humorous—the quality or condition of being a fish—from the prefix ‘pisci-’ (of, or relating to, fish) and the suffix ‘-ity’ (after the noun ‘humanity’)
Read MoreAuthor: Pascal Tréguer
‘dreamcatcher’: original meaning
USA, 1943—a mattress, a pillow, pyjamas, etc., advertised as ensuring a good night’s sleep
Read More‘beer goggles’: meaning and origin
U.S. College slang, 1985—the effects of alcohol thought of metaphorically as a pair of goggles that alter a person’s perceptions especially by making others appear more attractive than they actually are
Read More‘Quatorze Juillet’: meaning and origin
USA, 1882—the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—also shortened to ‘Quatorze’ (1898)
Read More‘Bastille Day’: meaning and origin
the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—coined in 1837 by Thomas Carlyle
Read More‘kiwi’ (air-force slang): meaning and origin
First World War—a non-flying member of an air force—in reference to the flightless bird of New Zealand
Read More‘(here’s) mud in your eye’: meaning—and origin?
USA, 1911—a humorous drinking toast—origin unknown—the image is perhaps that mud in one’s eye blurs one’s vision like alcohol does
Read More‘council-house television’: meaning and origin
UK, 1993—derogatory—Sky Television Network, regarded as downmarket—alluded to the number of satellite dishes on council houses and council tower-blocks
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Read More‘Kiwiness’: meaning and origin
the quality or fact of being from New Zealand; characteristics regarded as typical of New Zealand or New Zealanders—coined in 1967 by the U.S. Professor of Psychology Eugene Leonard Hartley
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