two usages of ‘pox doctor’s clerk’
UK 1945: ‘as lucky as the pox doctor’s clerk’: very lucky—UK 1954, ‘to look like a pox doctor’s clerk’, Australia 1957, ‘done up like a pox doctor’s clerk’: dressed nattily but in bad taste
Read MoreCategory: Australia & New Zealand
‘to do a Melba’ | ‘to do a Dame Nellie’: meanings and origin
Australia, 1946—to return to one’s profession after retirement; of a singer or other performer: to make frequent comebacks—from the repeated farewell performances given by Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba
Read More‘not to be able to fight one’s way out of a paper bag’
Australia, 1902—to be extremely weak or incompetent at fighting; to be completely ineffectual or inept—‘to fight one’s way out of a paper bag’: to accomplish a very easy task
Read More‘Lady Blamey’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1941—an improvised drinking glass made by slicing the top off a bottle—named after Lady Olga Blamey, wife of General Thomas Blamey
Read More‘further back than Walla Walla’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1949—at a disadvantage or delayed—refers to Walla Walla, a champion pacer of the 1930s which conceded its rivals starts of up to 288 yards
Read More‘as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike’: meaning and early occurrences
This phrase means ‘utterly useless’. The earliest occurrences that I have found are British English (from 1981 onwards) and Australian English (from 1983 onwards).
Read More‘to get off at Redfern’ (to practise coitus interruptus)
Australia, 1967—Redfern: a train station positioned one stop before Sydney Central Station—British-English regional variations include, in Newcastle upon Tyne: ‘to get out at Gateshead’
Read More‘the man outside Hoyt’s’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1935—a person with extensive knowledge—originally the announcer outside Hoyt’s Theatre in Melbourne, Victoria, who wore a most elaborate uniform
Read More‘too thick to drink and too thin to plow’
U.S.—used in reference to several muddy rivers, and, occasionally, to other waterbodies—originally (1890 to 1902) used in reference to the Missouri River
Read More‘to have death adders in one’s pocket’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1930—describes a person who is reluctant, or very slow, to pay for something—the image is of a snake biting the person when they put their hand in their pocket to get at their money
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