‘jam butty’ (police patrol car)

2nd Jul 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

UK, 1971—‘jam butty’ (also ‘jam sandwich’): a colloquial appellation for a police patrol car having a red stripe painted on a white background

‘Paris syndrome’: meaning and origin

1st Jul 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

1992—the culture shock experienced by an individual (typically a Japanese) who, when visiting, or living in, Paris, realises that this city does not fulfil their idealised expectations—apparently a loan translation from Japanese ‘Pari shōkōgun’, coined by Japanese psychiatrist Hiroaki Ōta

‘knuckle-sandwich’ | ‘knuckle-butty’: meanings and origin

29th Jun 2021.Reading time 7 minutes.

‘knuckle-sandwich’ USA, 1940—‘knuckle-butty’ UK, 1972—a punch to the mouth (or to the stomach)—the image is of a sandwich of knuckles being forced into the mouth (or into the stomach) of the person who is punched

‘Liverpool pantile’: meaning and origin

28th Jun 2021.Reading time 12 minutes.

UK, 1870—a very hard ship’s biscuit—refers to the fact that these sea-biscuits were particularly carried by Liverpool merchant ships; likens the shape and hardness of these sea-biscuits to those of pantiles, i.e. roofing tiles curved to an ogee shape

‘fang-farrier’: meaning and origin

27th Jun 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

a dentist—World War Two—slang of the British armed forces—was soon adopted into (and came to be regarded as) Australian English—earlier synonyms: ‘fang-faker’ and ‘fang-wrencher’

‘different ships, different long splices’: meaning and origin

26th Jun 2021.Reading time 11 minutes.

1922—nautical—figuratively, means that different countries (or cities, spheres of activity, etc.) have different customs or practices—‘long splice’: a splice in which the ends of two ropes are interwoven in such a way that the point of joining and the ropes are of equal thickness

‘churchyard cough’: meaning and origin

25th Jun 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK, 1677—a bad cough indicative of impending death—with allusion to the churchyard as the site of burial, ‘churchyard’ has been used attributively of something indicative of, or associated with, (impending) death

a grim phrase: ‘churchyard luck’

24th Jun 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

In Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the grim proletarian phrase ‘churchyard luck’ denoted the ‘good fortune’ which the parents of a large, poor family experienced by the death of one or more of their children.

‘a sniff of the barmaid’s apron’: meaning and origin

23rd Jun 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

UK, 1929—a drink of alcohol—especially used of an initial drink taken by someone (e.g. a young person) who is particularly susceptible to the effects of alcohol

‘bullamacow’: meanings and origin

22nd Jun 2021.Reading time 23 minutes.

islands of the South Pacific, 1881—cattle, beef, and, by extension, meat of any kind and tinned meat—a combination of the nouns ‘bull’ and ‘cow’