‘a long streak of pelican shit’: meaning and origin
a tall person—Australia, 1968, in the stage play Norm and Ahmed, by Alexander Buzo—gained currency from occurring in the film Gallipoli (1981), scripted by David Williamson
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‘winter of discontent’ (as applied to the winter of 1978-79 in Britain)
has been used since September 1978 to denote the winter of 1978-79 in the United Kingdom, during which widespread strikes took place in protest against the then Labour government’s wage limits
Read More‘sunlit uplands’ (as applied to post-Brexit Britain)
The phrase ‘sunlit uplands’ denotes an idealised or longed-for future time of happiness, prosperity, good fortune, etc. Popularised by Winston Churchill in 1940, this phrase has been associated with the bright future that Brexit was supposed to usher in.
Read More‘summer of discontent’: meaning and origin
UK—the summer of 2022, during which numerous strikes took place—alludes to ‘winter of discontent’, i.e., the winter of 1978-79, during which widespread strikes took place in protest against the government’s wage limits
Read More‘General Winter’: meaning and origin
personifies the winter season as an army commander, especially in reference to winter as detrimental or destructive to a military campaign—UK, 1777, in reference to the War of American Independence
Read More‘to study the history of the four kings’ (to play cards)
from ‘the history of the four kings’, punning on ‘the four kings’ (the four playing cards in a pack, each bearing a representation of a king) and ‘the Book of Kings’ (the name of two, formerly four, books of the Old Testament)
Read More‘Queen Elizabeth is dead’ | ‘Queen Anne is dead’: meaning and origin
18th century—used humorously and ironically to denote old news, usually with the implication that the person whom the speaker is referring to is simply stating the obvious or restating a well-worn or accepted truth
Read More‘to thank one’s lucky stars’: meaning and origin
to be grateful for one’s good fortune—18th century—from the notion that a planet, star or zodiacal constellation influences events and human affairs—this notion had given rise in the 16th century to the phrase ‘to thank (or to curse) one’s stars’
Read More‘Hooray Henry’: meaning and origin
a lively but ineffectual young upper-class man—UK, 1959—apparently coined in the 1950s by the British jazz manager James Godbolt after ‘Hoorah Henry’, coined in 1936 by the U.S. author Alfred Damon Runyon
Read More‘to bang like a dunny door’: meaning and early occurrences
Australia—also ‘to bang like a shithouse door’—used of an exceptional sexual partner—plays on two meanings of the verb ‘bang’: ‘to make a loud noise’ and ‘to have sexual intercourse’
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