‘game as a pissant’: meaning and origin
also ‘game as an ant’, ‘game as a bulldog ant’, etc.—Australia, 1874—plucky, courageous, willing to put up a fight against considerable odds
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‘brown Windsor soup’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1919—a thick brown meat-based soup of a type now often depreciatively depicted as emblematic of traditional British cookery
Read More‘spud-cocky’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1911—a potato farmer—composed of ‘spud’ (a potato) and ‘cocky’ (a farmer working a small-scale farm)—‘cocky’: shortened form of ‘cockatoo’ (a farmer working a small-scale farm)
Read More‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: meaning and early occurrences
British slang, 1960s—‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: to become self-involved, pretentious or conceited—‘to be up one’s own arse’: to be self-involved, pretentious or conceited
Read More‘old boiler’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1950—UK, 1962—derogatory and offensive: a middle-aged or elderly woman, especially one who is unattractive or unfeminine—refers to ‘boiler’, i.e., a tough old chicken for cooking by boiling
Read More‘Gloria Soame’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1965—the Strine equivalent of ‘glorious home’—‘Strine’: the English language as spoken by Australians
Read More‘Ma State’: meaning and origin
the State of New South Wales—Australia, 1905—alludes to New South Wales as the ‘mother’ colony, i.e., the first colony that Britain founded in Australia—hence (1908) ‘Ma Stater’, a native or inhabitant of New South Wales
Read More‘brimstone and treacle’: meaning and origin
Britain, 1746—refers to old-fashioned medicinal remedies—notably used by Charles Dickens in ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’ (1838-39)
Read More‘grey death’: meaning and origin
Australian slang, 1960s—the unpalatable and unnutritious evening stew that used to be served to prison inmates—by extension: any unpalatable item of food
Read More‘the lady’s not for turning’: meaning and origin
UK, 1980—is used by, or of, a woman who asserts her determination to do what she has decided to do—from Margaret Thatcher’s speech delivered on 10 October 1980 at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton
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