‘bull in a china shop’ – ‘éléphant dans un magasin de porcelaine’
‘like a bull in a china shop’ (UK, 1802)—French equivalent with ‘elephant’ instead of ‘bull’ (1849)
Read MoreCategory: United Kingdom & Ireland
origin of ‘sop’ (a concession given to placate)
17th century—allusion to the Aeneid, by Virgil, in which the Sybil throws a drugged cake to Cerberus, the monstrous dog guarding the entrance to Hades
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan’
USA, 1960s—extreme right-wing views associated with the supposedly barbaric and tyrannical rule of Genghis Khan—the name Attila is also used
Read MoreHow a cartoon popularised ‘to drop the pilot’.
John Tenniel popularised the phrase in a cartoon depicting the dismissal of Otto von Bismarck, published in Punch (London) of 29 March 1890.
Read Moreorigin of the Irish-English phrase ‘up the pole’ (‘pregnant’)
probably refers to pregnancy as an awkward condition, the image being apparently of an uncomfortable position at the top of a pole
Read Morethe American-English origin of the phrase ‘like greased lightning’
denotes extreme quickness of movement—the use of ‘greased’ likens lightning to a machine that a mechanic has lubricated in order to minimise the friction and make it run easily
Read More‘a legend in one’s lifetime’ | ‘a legend in one’s lunchtime’
UK—‘a legend in your lifetime’ (1913): allegedly said by Benjamin Jowett to Florence Nightingale—‘a legend in his own lunchtime’ (1969): first recorded in a theatrical review by John Cunningham
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘as dead as the dodo’
UK, 1852—of a person or thing: irretrievably defunct or out of date—with reference to the extinct bird of Mauritius
Read Moreorigin of ‘to throw one’s hat in(to) the ring’
UK, 1820—to show willingness to enter into a contest or take up a challenge, especially in business or politics—originally (1804) used in boxing with reference to the custom of throwing a hat into the ring to signal willingness to enter a contest
Read Moreorigin of ‘to [verb] the living daylights out of somebody’
The adjective ‘living’ is an intensifier, and ‘daylights’ is an 18th-century slang term for ‘eyes’ chiefly used in contexts of physical violence or threats.
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