‘Peter Grievous’: meaning and origin
a person who whines or complains—UK, 1769, humorous—‘Peter’ is used as a generic forename, and the adjective ‘grievous’ (meaning ‘aggrieved’) is treated as a surname
Read MoreCategory: USA & Canada
‘to give a raspberry’: meanings and origin
‘raspberry’: a rude sound (suggestive of breaking wind) made by blowing with the tongue between the lips, as an expression of mockery or contempt—UK, 1888—‘raspberry’ (short for ‘raspberry tart’): rhyming slang for ‘fart’
Read More‘permacrisis’: meaning and origin
defined by Collins Dictionary as denoting “an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events”—first used in 1975 by the U.S. political scientist John Pearson Roche
Read More‘curtain-twitching’ | ‘curtain-twitcher’
used of a person who likes to observe other people’s activities from his or her window, in a furtive and prying manner—UK and Ireland, 1940
Read More‘between a rock and a hard place’: meaning and origin
faced with two equally difficult alternatives; in a dilemma—USA, 1914
Read More‘to clutch the pearls’: meaning and origin
to react with shock or dismay, especially in response to something considered immoral, underhand or vulgar—USA, 1990—from an episode of the sketch-comedy television series In Living Color, broadcast on 15th April 1990
Read More‘what can you expect from a hog but a grunt?’: meaning and early occurrences
meaning: a person cannot be expected to behave in a manner that is not in their character—numerous variants—first recorded in 1731 as ‘If we petition a Hog, what can we expect but a grunt’
Read More‘(as) independent as a hog on ice’: meaning and origin
(humorous and frequently ironic) determinedly or stubbornly independent—USA, 1841—apparently refers to the extreme helplessness of a hog (i.e., a pig) on the ice
Read More‘to drive pigs (to market)’: meaning and origin
to snore—UK, 1828—this phrase likens a person’s snoring to the sound made by a herd of pigs
Read More‘pig in a python’: meanings and origin
Canada, 1970—the people who were born during the ‘baby boom’ of the years immediately following WWII, considered as a demographic bulge—any short-term increase or notably large group
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