‘the more firma, the less terra’: meanings and origin
expresses distrust at air or sea travel—USA, 1926—with a pun on ‘terror’, jocularly decouples from each other the components of ‘terra firma’ (firm land)
Read MoreCategory: United Kingdom & Ireland
‘refreshes the parts other — cannot reach’
UK, 1976—from “Heineken. Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”, an advertising slogan for Heineken lager, in use from 1975 onwards
Read Morenotes on ‘all fur coats and no knickers’
UK, 1963—ostentatious vulgarity in social life—from the literal sense of a fashionably dressed woman whose appearance covers vulgarity
Read More‘quoth the raven’: beware of these lodgings
UK, 1899—warning that touring actors wrote in the visitors’ books of low-quality lodgings—alludes to ‘Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”’ in Edgar Poe’s ‘The Raven’
Read More‘a fool at one end and a fire at the other’: meaning and history
a cigar or a cigarette—USA, 1841—probably patterned on phrases such as ‘a fool at one end and a maggot at the other’, describing a fishing rod
Read More‘busman’s holiday’: meaning and origin
UK, 1888—a holiday spent doing the same sort of thing as one does at work—apparently from the busmen’s habit of spending their days off riding on friends’ buses
Read Morea crude phrase: ‘to see a woman’s breakfast’
UK, 1973—refers to a woman’s breasts as revealed e.g. by a very low-cut dress, or to (the contours of) a woman’s genitals as revealed e.g. by a very short skirt
Read More‘I would not call the Queen my aunt’: meaning and history
I am happy with my situation (so much so that even becoming royalty could not improve on it)—UK, 1843 as ‘I would not give sixpence to call the Queen my aunt’
Read More‘your policemen are wonderful’: meaning and history
1928—used of British police officers, chiefly those of London, by persons, mostly women, visiting the United Kingdom—became rapidly a cliché used jocularly
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘to grow hair on a billiard ball’
to achieve the impossible—USA, 1881—originally and chiefly used with reference to hair loss treatment
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