‘a storm in a teacup’ | ‘une tempête dans un verre d’eau’
a great commotion about a trivial matter—‘a storm in a teacup’: UK, 1775—‘une tempête dans un verre d’eau’: France, 1785
Read MoreCategory: literature
‘you, too, can have a body like mine’: origin and early occurrences
originated in magazine advertisements for the bodybuilding course created and marketed by Italian-born U.S. bodybuilder Charles Atlas (Angelo Siciliano – 1892-1972)
Read Morenotes on ‘choke, chicken: more are hatching’
said to console a child choking over his or her food—UK, obsolete—first recorded in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation (1738), by Jonathan Swift
Read More‘take me to your leader’: meaning and early occurrences
the demand that an extraterrestrial makes to the first human being or animal it encounters after alighting from its flying saucer—USA, 1956—from a cliché in science-fiction stories
Read More19th-century nicknames for London newspapers
The Times: nicknamed Thunderer—the Morning Advertiser: Gin-and-Gospel Gazette, Tap-tub—The Morning Post: Jeames—The Morning Herald and The Standard: respectively Mrs Harris and Mrs Gamp
Read More‘svengali’: meaning and early occurrences
1894—(depreciative) someone who has a controlling influence over another—from the name of the hypnotist under whose spell Trilby falls in ‘Trilby’ (1894), by George Du Maurier
Read More‘Richard’s himself again’: meaning and origin
indicates that a person has returned to normal after an illness or similar episode—from The Tragical History of King Richard III (1700), an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III by Colley Cibber
Read More‘as busy as a one-armed paperhanger’: meaning and early occurrences
exceedingly busy—USA, 1906—chiefly in the extended form ‘as busy as a one-armed paper hanger with the hives’
Read More‘anything for a quiet wife’ | ‘anything for a quiet life’
‘anything for a quiet wife’ (1875)—jocular variant of ‘anything for a quiet life’ (ca. 1620), which expresses concession or resigned agreement, to ensure one is not disturbed
Read Morea British phrase: ‘(there’s) trouble at t’mill’
1955—originated in stage plays purporting to depict life in northern England, particularly in Lancashire—‘mill’: a factory
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