‘chateau tap-water’ | ‘Château-la-Pompe’
tap-water likened to a grand cru—in reference to ‘château’ in names of wines of superior quality—in French ‘Château-la-Pompe’ (i.e. ‘Château-the-Pump’), ‘pompe’ denotes a device for raising water
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‘Château Plonk’: meaning and origin
wine, especially cheap wine of inferior quality—UK, 1973—from ‘château’ (as used in names of expensive wines of superior quality made at vineyard estates) and ‘plonk’, denoting cheap wine of inferior quality
Read More‘to pull out all the stops’: meaning and origin
to do everything possible to achieve a result or effect—UK, 1865 (as ‘to pull out a few more stops’)—alludes to pulling out all the stops of an organ in order to produce a full and thrilling sound
Read More‘to come to a sticky end’: meaning and early occurrences
to die, or to come to grief, in violent or exceptionally unpleasant circumstances—Australia, 1897—here, the adjective ‘sticky’ means ‘unpleasant’
Read More‘to say prunes’: meaning and early occurrences
to speak the plural noun ‘prunes’ aloud in order to form the lips into an attractive shape—UK, 1846—particularly associated with portrait photography; also with kissing
Read More‘mockumentary’: meaning and early occurrences
denotes a film, television programme, etc., which adopts the form of a serious documentary in order to satirise its subject—apparently first used (and perhaps coined) in 1952 by the Canadian television producer Ross McLean
Read More‘bothsideism’ | ‘bothsidesism’: meanings and early occurrences
USA, 1974—the news media’s practice of giving credence to the other side of an opinion or action in order to seem fair, even though that other side is objectionable
Read More‘baby blues’: meaning and origin
depression suffered by a mother in the period following childbirth—USA, 1940, in Expectant Motherhood, by Nicholson Joseph Eastman—variant: ‘after-the-baby blues’ (USA, 1940)
Read More‘nom de disc’: meaning and origin
an assumed name under which a person records a disc—UK, 1931—coined on the pattern of phrases such as ‘nom de théâtre’ and ‘nom de plume’
Read More‘garbageology’ | ‘garbageologist’: original meanings and early occurrences
originally used in 1940 in reference to refuse collection—came to be used in 1970 in reference to the recycling of waste materials—then in 1971 in reference to the practice of looking through the garbage of celebrities
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