“ad fontes!”
UK and Ireland—the small change that has slipped down between the cushions and the back, or the arms, of a sofa—also used figuratively: public funds that are ‘miraculously’ found; permanent end; wasted money
Read Moreused to rebuke an unrealistic conditional—USA, 1808: ‘if my aunt had been my uncle, what would have been her gender?’—France, 1843: ‘si ma tante était un homme, ça serait mon oncle’ (‘if my aunt were a man, that would be my uncle’)
Read MoreUSA, 1876: from beginning to end, completely, exhaustively—literal meaning, 1852: all the successive parts of a meal, from soup at the beginning to nuts at the end
Read MoreUK—originated in British-Army slang, first to designate an unintelligent person (1943), then any ordinary soldier of the lowest ranks (1945)—finally also, in civilian usage: any ordinary person (1947)
Read Morea hypothetical ordinary working man—USA, 1970—refers to a man who buys beer in six-packs—apparently coined by a political informant on the blue-collar area of Fields Corner in Dorchester, neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts
Read MoreAmerican English, 1823—meaning: if one is falsely reputed to act in a specific manner, then one may as well act in that manner
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a live video feed in a sports arena showing images of selected couples in the audience in the expectation that they will kiss—USA and Canada, 2001
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UK, 1870—based on the stereotype of Scots being miserly—from the story of the Scotsman who complained that he had to spend, in London, the small sum of sixpence
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UK 1934 – USA 1935—alludes to a sardonic song by Cole Porter, about the lynching of an upper-class woman after she murders her unfaithful lover
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writing is more effective than military power or violence—UK, 1832—often erroneously ascribed to E. Bulwer-Lytton in ‘Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy’ (1839)
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word histories 