notes on the British phrase ‘I’ve started, so I’ll finish’
gained currency from its use by Magnus Magnusson on the BBC-Television quiz programme ‘Mastermind’, which he presented from its creation in 1972 until 1997
Read MoreCategory: etymology
meaning of ‘hit me now with the child in my arms’
Irish-English phrase—first recorded in 1892—used to express pretended fear of, and/or provocation to, a physical attack
Read Moremeanings of ‘to give the cat another goldfish’
USA, 1919—‘spare no expense’—also ‘go all out for it’, ‘hand victory on a platter’, ‘allow yourself more of what you want’ (South Africa)
Read More‘my name is Simpson, not Samson’: meaning and origin
UK, 1906—used by a workman asked to lift too heavy an object—‘Simpson’ chosen for its similarity with ‘Samson’, the name of a biblical hero of enormous strength
Read More‘must you stay? can’t you go?’: origin and meanings
UK, 1897—alteration of ‘must you go? can’t you stay?’ in Collections and Recollections, by G. W. E. Russell—originally used in reference to guests’ departure
Read Moremeanings of ‘more holy than righteous’
1) a seemingly devout or respectable person who lacks virtue—2) (with a pun on ‘holey’, i.e., full of holes) jocularly applied to holey things such as clothes
Read More‘God bless the Duke of Argyll’: meaning and origin
UK, 1825—the Scots, allegedly verminous, were said to rub themselves against posts erected by the Duke of Argyll and to bless the Duke when doing so
Read More‘men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses’
USA—from two-line poem ‘News Item’ (1926), by Dorothy Parker—has given rise to jocular variants, especially playing on ‘glasses’ (eyewear/drinking containers)
Read More‘not waving but drowning’: meaning and origin
used of a person whose display of distress misleads others into underestimating this distress—UK, 1962—from ‘Not Waving but Drowning’ (1954), by Stevie Smith
Read More‘since Pontius was a pilot’: meaning and origin
meaning: ‘for a very long time’—UK, 1944—with a pun on ‘Pilate’, originated in the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War
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