‘not cricket’: meanings and origin
the game of cricket played in the incorrect manner or improper spirit—hence, more generally, something contrary to traditional standards of fairness or rectitude—UK, 19th century
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‘a walk in the park’: meaning and origin
(the type of) something easy, effortless or pleasant—USA, 1937—originally denoted, in golf caddies’ slang, a nine-hole round, with some reference to the literal sense of the phrase
Read More‘not to put a foot wrong’: meaning and origin
to make no mistakes at all—UK, 1864—this phrase was originally used of racehorses and hunting horses
Read More‘Black Hole of Calcutta’: meaning and origin
an oppressive, very confined or crowded space—UK, 1764—refers to the punishment cell at Fort William, Calcutta, in which, in 1756, the Nawab of Bengal reputedly confined British and Anglo-Indian prisoners
Read More‘the second sex’: meaning and origin
women collectively, regarded as inferior to men—first occurred in ‘Don Juan’ (1821), by George Gordon Byron
Read More‘bonkbuster’: meaning and origin
a type of popular novel characterised by frequent explicit descriptions of sexual encounters between the characters—from ‘bonk’, referring to sexual intercourse, and ‘blockbuster’—UK, 1988—perhaps coined by Sue Limb
Read More‘sex and shopping’: meaning and origin
a genre of popular fiction featuring wealthy and glamorous characters who typically engage in frequent sexual encounters and extravagant spending—USA, 1985 & 1986, in reference to British novelist Jackie Collins and U.S. novelist Judith Krantz
Read More‘to be all fingers and thumbs’: meaning and origin
also ‘to be all thumbs’—to be extremely clumsy (i.e., lacking in manual dexterity)—19th century—variants of the original phrase ‘each finger is a thumb’, already proverbial in the mid-16th century
Read More‘poodle-faker’: meaning and origin
a ladies’ man—British-Army slang, 1900—based on the image of emulating a pet dog
Read More‘Brylcreem Boy’: meanings and origin
UK, 1941—a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force; also used by the military land forces of any member of the R.A.F.—originally referred to WWII advertisements for Brylcreem hair cream, featuring a fighter pilot
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word histories 