“ad fontes!”
to engage in pointless or futile activity in the face of disaster—USA, 1969—apparently first used, and perhaps coined, by Elizabeth Carpenter, press secretary for the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson
Read MoreUK, 1935—a humorous self-contradictory phrase which includes the clichéd phrase ‘to avoid like the plague’ in order to express the necessity of avoiding clichés—as a piece of advice for writers, has itself become a cliché
Read MoreUSA, 1882—one’s boots or feet as a means of travel, humorously represented as a form of public transport—refers to boots with hobnails inserted into the soles
Read MoreUK, early 19th century, derogatory—used attributively of a journalist who was paid at the rate of a penny a line, hence also of low-quality writing
Read MoreAustralia & UK, 1856—a circular curl of hair (sometimes artificial), usually pressed flat against the temple or forehead
Read MoreUK, 1930—one who is born into the Roman Catholic Church (i.e., a Catholic ‘from the cradle’)
Read MoreUK, 1866, sailors’ slang: a straw mattress—Australia, 1884: a straw hat—in reference to donkeys’ diet
Read MoreAustralia, 1957—to gain weight around one’s middle
Read Moreone who rides a surfboard with the right foot forward instead of the left—USA, 1960 (as a verb)—here, ‘goofy’ seems to be related to prejudice against left-handedness and left-footedness
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1910s—a ship designed to carry submarines—likens the submarines carried in such ships to the immature young nursed in the abdominal pouch of female kangaroos
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word histories 