the curious French equivalents of ‘window shopping’
‘window shopping’ (USA, 1875)—‘lèche-vitrine(s)’ (French, 1932) from ‘lécher’ (to lick) and ‘vitrine’ (shop window)—verb ‘crébilloner’ (Nantes only), from ‘rue Crébillon’
Read MoreCategory: USA & Canada
How Adolf Hitler popularised ‘heads will roll’ in 1930.
based on the notion of execution by beheading—popularised by a literal threat of executions made on 25th September 1930 by Adolf Hitler
Read Moreanother discussion about ‘Indian summer’
the problems with the “novel origin story for ‘Indian Summer’” put forward by Matthew R. Halley in Notes and Queries (September 2017)
Read Morethe Bloody Mary before the name existed
Unnamed cocktails consisting of vodka and tomato juice became fashionable in the 1930s before the name ‘Bloody Mary’ was coined in November 1939.
Read Moreorigin of ‘hatchet man’: a hired Chinese assassin
USA—‘hatchet man’ (1874): a hired Chinese assassin using a hatchet or cleaver—‘hatchet work’ (1895): a murder carried out by a hatchet man
Read More18th-century instances of ‘Indian summer’
18th-century instances of ‘Indian summer’ in addition to the earliest one—including a 1791 figurative use of the term
Read More‘to go bald-headed’ (to rush without care or caution)
first recorded in The Biglow Papers (1848), by American author James Russell Lowell—based on the notion of leaving one’s hat behind in a rush of impetuosity
Read MoreHow a telegram popularised ‘to bring home the bacon’.
USA, 1906—popularised by a telegram sent to boxer Joe Gans by his mother, requesting him before a fight to win and ‘bring home the bacon’
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘backseat driver’
USA, 1891—a passenger in the rear seat of a car who gives the driver unwanted advice; hence, figuratively, a person who is eager to advise without responsibility
Read Morethe American-English phrase ‘you and whose army?’
USA, 1929—‘you and whose army?’, or ‘you and what army?’: used to question a person’s ability to carry out a threat or challenge unaided
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