“ad fontes!”
1809—a transient light preceding the true dawn by about an hour, a phenomenon common in Eastern countries—translates Arabic ‘ṣubḥ kāḏib’—figuratively: a hopeful sign that can prove either illusory or authentic
Read More1580—always having to be ready to obey someone’s orders immediately—‘beck’ denotes a mute signal or significant gesture (such as a nod or a motion of the hand), indicating assent or notifying a command
Read MoreUK—since 1981, has been associated with a speech by the Employment Secretary, Norman Tebbit, at the Conservative Party conference, in which he exhorted the unemployed to go and find work, like his father, who had “got on his bike and looked for work”
Read More‘999’ denotes the telephone number used to contact the emergency services in the United Kingdom. This telephone number was introduced in 1937 by Walter Womersley, who was then the Assistant Postmaster-General.
Read MoreAustralia—a controversial current-affairs topic—the image is that such a topic is likely to interrupt a barbecue with loud debate—coined in 2001 by the Australian Prime Minister John Howard during his re-election campaign
Read MoreUK, 1990—a British-Army euphemism for a severe reprimand by a senior officer—also, by extension, any ‘dressing-down’
Read Morea word with two opposite or contradictory meanings—coined by Jack Herring in 1962—Joseph T. Shipley had developed the same notion in Playing With Words (1960); he called it ‘autantonym’
Read MoreAustralia, 1982—a coded signal from a man to other men, indicating that a woman is approaching, so that they all moderate their language—originally used in shearing sheds, but now used in other places, especially in pubs
Read MoreAustralia, 1986—a man’s protruding belly—‘verandah’ denotes an open-sided roofed structure over a shop—in this phrase, ‘toy shop’ denotes the male genitals
Read MoreAustralia, 1979—to lose one’s temper or composure; to give up contesting or participating—the image is of a baby spitting out its dummy in a tantrum
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word histories 