‘to beat the Dutch’: meaning and origin
USA, 1775—to do or say something remarkable or startling—the precise underlying notion in the choice of ‘Dutch’ is not clear—‘Dutch’ occurs in a number of derogatory or derisive English phrases
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‘a penny soul never came to twopence’
UK, 1844—extreme meanness never made anyone better off—compare Book of Proverbs, 11:24: “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.”
Read More‘for show and not for blow’ | ‘one for show and one for blow’
19th century—refer to two handkerchiefs, one used as a clothing accessory, the other for blowing the nose—hence, figuratively ‘for display rather than for use’ and ‘one for display and one for use’
Read More‘an accident waiting to happen’: meanings and early occurrences
USA, 1905—a situation that is likely to lead to disaster or misfortune, especially because of negligence or neglect; someone who behaves in a way that is likely to cause trouble
Read More‘can a moose crochet?’: meaning and origin
USA, 1967—emphatic negative phrase meaning ‘well, hardly’ or ‘no, that’s impossible’—used as the title of a jazz piece composed by Johnny Hodges—said to be a folk phrase that he had heard “out West”
Read More‘the opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings’: meaning and origin
USA, 1976—the outcome of a situation cannot be assumed—may allude to the stereotype of a large female soprano singing the final aria of an opera—from ‘church ain’t out ’till the fat lady sings’ (1976), itself from ‘church ain’t out until the singing is over’ (1872)
Read More‘figures won’t lie, but liars will figure’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1872—the first clause refers to accurate calculations, the second punningly refers to the manipulation of those calculations—based on the figure called chiasmus, i.e., in which the order of words in the first clause is inverted in the second
Read More‘doesn’t buy (the) groceries’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1911—is applied to an act or activity that brings in no money—is often preceded by the third-person singular pronoun ‘it’
Read More‘scarlet letter’: meanings and origin
a representation of the letter A in scarlet cloth which Hester Prynne is condemned to wear in The Scarlet Letter (1850), by Nathaniel Hawthorne—soon came to be used figuratively in the sense of a stigma, a mark of infamy
Read More‘to chew nails and spit rust’: meaning and early occurrences
This phrase is applied to someone who is very strong and resilient in the face of hardship or pain. It originated in the USA in 1918; it has been used in British English since 1933.
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