early history of the phrase ‘the dog ate my homework’
far-fetched excuse for failing to hand in school homework—1st recorded UK 1929 but had already long been in usage at that time—dog eating a sermon UK 1894
Read MoreCategory: USA & Canada
the phrase ‘like the man who fell out of the balloon, not in it’
refers to someone who stands no chance whatsoever in an undertaking—UK, 1880—perhaps originally a line in The World, a drama by Meritt, Pettitt and Harris
Read More‘Mc-’: prefix inspired by the McDonald’s restaurant chain
USA, early 1980s—depreciative—suggests values epitomised by the McDonald’s restaurant chain, such as low quality, blandness, standardisation, superficiality
Read Moresome early figurative uses of ‘Möbius strip’
US 1960—person of whom only one aspect is known; continual phenomenon—from the one-sided continuous surface formed by joining the ends of a half-twisted strip
Read More1806: earliest definition of ‘cocktail’ (mixed drink with a spirit base)
13 May 1806—The Balance, and Columbian Repository (Hudson, New York, USA)—“a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters”
Read Morenotes on the second-earliest mentions of a drink called ‘cocktail’
USA, 1803—associated with a lounger—precise meaning of ‘cocktail’ is not defined, but the word denotes an alcoholic drink apparently taken as hair of the dog
Read Moremeaning and history of ‘spring forward, fall back’
USA, 1936—serves as a mnemonic for remembering to set the clocks when daylight-saving time comes into effect and when it ends
Read Moremeaning and origin of the term ‘(Dr.) Kevorkian’
USA, 1990s—purveyor of doom, especially agent of death, force of suicide—refers to Jack Kevorkian (1928-2011), U.S. physician and advocate of assisted suicide
Read Moremeanings and history of ‘the usual suspects’
USA, 1932—originally used of the impunity enjoyed by gangsters when one of them was murdered—therefore, did not originate in the 1942 film Casablanca
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘ugly American’
USA, 1958—an American who behaves offensively abroad—refers to The Ugly American, a 1958 novel denouncing the U.S. Foreign Service in Southeast Asia
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word histories 