the authentic origin of ‘to rain cats and dogs’ 23rd Jun 2016.Reading time 22 minutes. First recorded circa 1629 as ‘to rain dogs and cats’, this phrase is based on a cat-and-dog fight as a metaphor for a storm or hard rain; the theory that Jonathan Swift coined the phrase is ludicrous. Read More
‘in Dicky’s meadow’: meaning and origin 22nd Jun 2016.Reading time 20 minutes. In the phrase ‘in Dicky’s meadow’, which means ‘in trouble’, the first element is an alteration of ‘dicky’, meaning ‘hazardous’, ‘critical’. Read More
the multiple meanings and origins of ‘P’s and Q’s’ 21st Jun 2016.Reading time 19 minutes. Sexual puns in 17th-century English theatre explain several meanings of ‘P’s and Q’s’. Read More
word histories 