‘to extract the Michael’: meaning and origin
humorous—a polite variant of the informal phrase to ‘take the mickey out of’, meaning ‘to tease or ridicule’—UK, 1956
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‘(just) a pretty face’: original meaning and early occurrences
a woman who had no qualities other than attractiveness, with connotations of low intelligence, or of flightiness, or of low social status and poverty—second half of the 19th century, chiefly in stories by women writers
Read More‘chateau tap-water’ | ‘Château-la-Pompe’
tap-water likened to a grand cru—in reference to ‘château’ in names of wines of superior quality—in French ‘Château-la-Pompe’ (i.e. ‘Château-the-Pump’), ‘pompe’ denotes a device for raising water
Read More‘Château Plonk’: meaning and origin
wine, especially cheap wine of inferior quality—UK, 1973—from ‘château’ (as used in names of expensive wines of superior quality made at vineyard estates) and ‘plonk’, denoting cheap wine of inferior quality
Read More‘excuse-me dance’: meaning and early occurrences
UK and Ireland—a dance in which one may supersede a partner—first recorded in 1923—but the expression ‘excuse-me waltz’ had occurred in 1922
Read More‘to pull out all the stops’: meaning and origin
to do everything possible to achieve a result or effect—UK, 1865 (as ‘to pull out a few more stops’)—alludes to pulling out all the stops of an organ in order to produce a full and thrilling sound
Read More‘to come to a sticky end’: meaning and early occurrences
to die, or to come to grief, in violent or exceptionally unpleasant circumstances—Australia, 1897—here, the adjective ‘sticky’ means ‘unpleasant’
Read More‘leather and prunella’: meaning and origin
something of no value, something to which one is utterly indifferent—UK, 1785—derives from a misinterpretation of “Worth makes the Man, and Want of it the Fellow;/The rest, is all but Leather or Prunella.” in An Essay on Man (1734), by Alexander Pope
Read More‘to say prunes’: meaning and early occurrences
to speak the plural noun ‘prunes’ aloud in order to form the lips into an attractive shape—UK, 1846—particularly associated with portrait photography; also with kissing
Read More‘poacher turned gamekeeper’: meaning and origin
a person who now preserves the interests that he or she previously attacked—UK, 19th century—but the notion occurred in Chaucer’s Physician’s Tale and ‘the greatest deer-stealers make the best park-keepers’ in The Church-History of Britain (1655)
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