meaning and evolution of ‘had one but the wheel(s) came off’
UK, 1924—used to indicate that the speaker has been inattentive or has not understood what has just been said
Read MoreCategory: United Kingdom & Ireland
the acronym ‘Wags’ and its derivative ‘Gwags’
‘WAGs’ (1987): the wives and girlfriends of the players of the Scottish football team Dundee United F.C.—‘Gwags’ (2006): golfers’ wives and girlfriends
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘the silly season’
coined in The Saturday Review (London, 13 July 1861) about the shortage of important news in autumn in The Times of London
Read Moremeanings and origin of ‘all over the shop’
UK, 1862—‘in every direction’ and ‘in a disorganised or confused state’—apparently originated in sports slang
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British phrase ‘to give it some welly’
to put more effort in it—1976 with reference to putting one’s foot down on the accelerator pedal in a motor vehicle
Read Morehistory of the phrase ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’
sexual intercourse conducted quickly and without tenderness—originally used (USA, 1950) in the generic, neutral sense of ‘quickness’
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to grasp the nettle’
from the idea that it takes some pluck to put to the test the belief that a nettle stings less painfully when seized tightly than when touched lightly
Read Morethe birth of some 19th-century advertising catchphrases
the origin of some famous catchphrases used in 19th-century advertising campaigns
Read Moreorigin of the catchphrase ‘Alas! my poor brother’
from an advertisement for the concentrated beef extract Bovril, showing a bullock lamenting over a jar of the product
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘(and) the best of British luck’
UK, 1957—an expression of encouragement, but often used ironically with the opposite meaning—origin unclear
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