‘down the back of the sofa’: literal and figurative uses

5th Sep 2020.Reading time 10 minutes.

UK and Ireland—the small change that has slipped down between the cushions and the back, or the arms, of a sofa—also used figuratively: public funds that are ‘miraculously’ found; permanent end; wasted money

some jocular uses of ‘a bit tight under the arms’

4th Sep 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

UK and USA, 1908: applied to a pair of trousers much too large for the wearer—later also applied to small cars and to socks much too large for the wearer

‘thank your mother for the rabbit(s)’: meanings and early occurrences

3rd Sep 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

UK and Ireland, since 1913—this jocular phrase has been used as an ironic expression of gratitude and as a goodbye

‘the things I’ve done for England’: meaning and origin

2nd Sep 2020.Reading time 14 minutes.

conveys derisive self-congratulation for an action that the speaker has done from a sense of duty rather than for pleasure—from a line uttered by Charles Laughton in the 1933 film The Private Life of Henry VIII

‘if my aunt had balls’ | ‘si ma tante en avait’

1st Sep 2020.Reading time 18 minutes.

used to rebuke an unrealistic conditional—USA, 1808: ‘if my aunt had been my uncle, what would have been her gender?’—France, 1843: ‘si ma tante était un homme, ça serait mon oncle’ (‘if my aunt were a man, that would be my uncle’)

‘Onion Johnny’: meaning and cultural background

31st Aug 2020.Reading time 19 minutes.

UK, 1877—an onion-seller from Brittany who sold onions door-to-door around the coasts of Britain—used with modifying word, ‘Johnny’ designates a person of the type, profession, etc., specified

‘don’t laugh—your daughter may be inside’

30th Aug 2020.Reading time 19 minutes.

USA, 1938: painted by teenagers on the dilapidated old cars they drove—Australia, 1948: painted on cars, too, but, apparently, not specifically by teenagers—later, on bumper stickers

‘rugby, racing and beer’: meaning and origin

29th Aug 2020.Reading time 16 minutes.

the three traditional interests of the stereotypical New-Zealand man—but also applied to both sexes—1962 or 1963 as the title and in the lyrics of a song by the New-Zealand singer-songwriter Rod Derrett

‘don’t argue’: meaning and origin of this rugby phrase

28th Aug 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

Australia, 1914—the straight-arm fend-off—from advertisements for J. C. Hutton Pty Ltd, depicting a man putting a hand in another man’s face and saying “Don’t argue—Hutton’s bacon is the best”

‘dead and never called me mother’: meaning and origin

27th Aug 2020.Reading time 16 minutes.

used to characterise melodrama—from the words said over her dead child by Lady Isabel in East Lynne (1874), T. A. Palmer’s stage play adapted from the 1861 novel by the English author Mrs. Henry Wood (Ellen Price)