‘to cast nasturtiums’: meaning and origin
a deliberate malapropism punning on ‘to cast aspersions on’—UK, 1902—nasturtiums are low plants with large round leaves and orange, red or yellow flowers
Read MoreCategory: United Kingdom & Ireland
‘Miss Otis regrets’: a recurring phrase
UK 1934 – USA 1935—alludes to a sardonic song by Cole Porter, about the lynching of an upper-class woman after she murders her unfaithful lover
Read Morea Scots phrase: ‘who stole your scone?’
1928—addressed to someone who looks glum—‘scone’ (originally Scots, early 16th century) denotes a light plain doughy cake
Read Morea punning phrase: ‘I see, said the blind man’
USA, 1830—used in association with ‘see’, ‘said the blind man’ puns on this verb’s primary meaning (‘to perceive with the eyes’) and secondary meanings (‘to understand’, ‘to find out’, ‘to examine’)
Read More‘the pen is mightier than the sword’: meaning and early occurrences
writing is more effective than military power or violence—UK, 1832—often erroneously ascribed to E. Bulwer-Lytton in ‘Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy’ (1839)
Read More‘get inside and pull the blinds down’: meaning and early occurrences
addressed to a poor horseman—means ‘get out of the public view and hide in shame’—UK, 1842
Read More‘a storm in a teacup’ | ‘une tempête dans un verre d’eau’
a great commotion about a trivial matter—‘a storm in a teacup’: UK, 1775—‘une tempête dans un verre d’eau’: France, 1785
Read More‘time flies? you cannot: they go too fast’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1904—punning extension (in which ‘time’ is a verb, and ‘flies’ a noun) of the cliché ‘time flies’
Read More‘you, too, can have a body like mine’: origin and early occurrences
originated in magazine advertisements for the bodybuilding course created and marketed by Italian-born U.S. bodybuilder Charles Atlas (Angelo Siciliano – 1892-1972)
Read More‘Coggeshall job’: meaning and origin
any muddle-headed business—UK, 1813—the stupidity of the people of Coggeshall, a small town in Essex, England, has been proverbial since the mid-17th century
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