‘talking head’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1963—frequently in plural: a person on television who is shown merely speaking, as in a newscast or an interview
Read MoreCategory: United Kingdom & Ireland
‘to drive a coach and horses through something’: meaning and origin
1691—to expose the flaws in something such as a law, a policy, an argument or a belief—these flaws are likened to holes large enough to drive a coach and horses through them
Read More‘blue funk’ (British and Irish usage)
a state of extreme nervousness or dread—UK, mid-19th century—‘blue’ is an intensifier of ‘funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread
Read More‘ugly duckling’: meaning and origin
a person or thing, initially ugly or unpromising, that changes into something beautiful or admirable—New Zealand, 1848—from Hans Christian Andersen’s story about a supposed ugly duckling that turns out to be a swan
Read More‘twelve good men and true’: meaning and origin
a jury in a lawcourt—17th century—but the selection of twelve good men and true to form a jury was mentioned in the 16th century
Read More‘blue flu’: meaning and origin
absenteeism among police officers (and by extension other workers) who claim to be ill but are in fact absent to support union contract demands or negotiations—USA, 1967—alludes to the traditional colour of police uniforms
Read More‘never the twain shall meet’: meaning and origin
two different people or things are totally incompatible—1901—alludes to “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” in Ballad of East and West (1892), by Rudyard Kipling
Read More‘light at the end of the tunnel’: meaning and origin
a long-awaited sign that a period of hardship or adversity is nearing an end—UK, 1862—the image is of a railway tunnel, and the phrase has been used literally
Read More‘kangaroo closure’: meaning and origin
UK, 1909—parliamentary procedure: a form of closure by which the chair or speaker selects certain amendments for discussion and excludes others—based on the image of a kangaroo leaping over obstacles
Read More‘wheelie bin’: meaning and origin
UK, 1983—a large, rectangular dustbin with a hinged lid and wheels on two of the corners—bins on wheels were introduced into the United Kingdom in 1980 on the model of what was done in the Federal Republic of Germany
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