meaning and origin of the British phrase ‘the acceptable face of ——’
1973—from ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism’, used by Prime Minister Edward Heath during a debate at the House of Commons on 15 May 1973
Read MoreCategory: United Kingdom & Ireland
the sexual meanings of ‘crumpet’ in British English
women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire; sexual intercourse—first recorded in ‘The Gilt Kid’ (1936), by James Curtis (Geoffrey Basil Maiden)
Read Morethe cultural background to the phrase ‘to shop till one drops’
USA, 1904—from the image of shopping until one is physically exhausted and unable to continue—alludes to the consumerist avidity prompted by department stores
Read MoreHow the British phrase ‘one’s finest hour’ arose in 1940.
the time of one’s greatest success—from the speech made on 18 June 1940 by P.M. Winston Churchill after the fall of France and before the Battle of Britain
Read Moresome reflections on ‘to Wyatt’
UK 2006—to play recherché music on a jukebox with the intent of irritating pub customers—attributed to Carl Neville in reference to Robert Wyatt’s ‘Dondestan’
Read More‘cheese-eating/tea-drinking surrender monkeys’
‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys’: the French people (USA, 1995) from The Simpsons—‘tea-drinking surrender monkeys’: the British people (Ireland, 2004)
Read More‘ploughman’s lunch’: meaning and origin
1957—coined as a marketing term by the Cheese Bureau, an organisation formed to promote the sales of cheese, when it began encouraging pubs to serve this meal
Read Moremeaning and possible origin of ‘the (dog’s) bollocks’
UK, 1980s—the very best—perhaps from ‘it sticks out like a dog’s ballocks’, denoting something obvious, hence someone or something that sticks out from the rest
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British phrase ‘a racing dog’s bollocks’
UK, 1988—used in similes to denote something that protrudes—originated in British military slang
Read Morethe history of ‘dog’s breakfast’ and ‘dog’s dinner’
UK—a confused mess—alludes to the jumbled nature of a dog’s meal—‘like a dog’s dinner’: over-elaborately or ostentatiously dressed
Read More
word histories 