‘air guitar’ | ‘air band’: meanings and early occurrences
‘air guitar’: an imaginary guitar played by miming, especially to rock music—‘air band’: a pretend rock band whose members mime the action of playing imaginary instruments—USA, 1978
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‘jobsworth’: meaning and origin
a person in authority who insists on adhering to rules even at the expense of common sense—1965, in the British pop-music milieu—from ‘job’s worth’ in the phrase ‘to be more than one’s job’s worth’
Read More‘scumbag’: meanings and origin
USA, 1953: a base, despicable person—from ‘scumbag’ in the sense of ‘a condom’ (here, the noun ‘scum’ is slang for ‘semen’)
Read More‘Strawberry Fields’: meaning and origin
LSD (i.e., lysergic acid diethylamide); also other drugs—USA, 1968—alludes to the Beatles’ song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ (1967)
Read More‘sweet as’: meaning and origin
New Zealand, 1985—adjective—a general term of approval, meaning: excellent, fantastic, great—frequently used as an interjection expressing emphatic affirmation, agreement or appreciation
Read More‘stupid o’clock’: meaning and origin
UK, late 1980s—the adverb ‘o’clock’ is colloquially and humorously used with adjectives to denote an unreasonably, excessively or inconveniently early or late hour—as in ‘stupid o’clock’, ‘silly o’clock’, etc.
Read More‘piehole’: meaning and origin
a person’s mouth—U.S. slang, 1983
Read More‘Beatle boot’: meaning and origin
UK & Ireland, 1963—a type of ankle boot worn by men, that was popularised by the Beatles
Read More‘rifferama’: meaning and origin
music characterised by excessive or extravagant riffing—USA, 1975—from ‘riff’ (a short repeated musical phrase) and ‘-orama’ (used to form nouns designating a display, event, etc., of considerable size or expanse)
Read More‘Beatledom’: meanings and origin
UK, 1963—with reference to the Beatles, a pop and rock group from Liverpool: the fact, or state, of being, or of resembling, a member of the Beatles; the world of the Beatles
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