‘thrown out of better places than this’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1909—a derogatory description of a specific place or occupation, typically used by somebody who is getting expelled from this specific place or occupation
Read Moreorigin of ‘I’ve got the time if you’ve got the inclination’
Seems to have originated in a joke, first recorded in 1955, in which the Tower of London says to the Leaning Tower of Pisa: “I’ve got the time and you’ve got the inclination.”
Read More‘if you want to get ahead, get a hat’: meaning and origin
one must wear a hat in order to become successful in one’s life or career—originally the slogan for an advertising campaign organised in 1948 by the British hat-manufacturers when hat-wearing began to decline
Read More‘(as) dim as a Toc H lamp’: meaning and origin
dim-witted—UK, 1955—refers to the oil lamp that is symbolically lit at the beginning of the meetings of each section of the international movement Toc H
Read More‘one from column A (and) one from column B’
alludes to the menus in Chinese restaurants, which list the dishes in two columns, column A and column B—USA, 1956—first in reference to comedian Buddy Hackett’s routine on a Chinese waiter taking an order
Read More‘good field, no hit’: meaning and purported origin
(baseball) a good fielder, but a poor hitter, i.e., batter—USA, 1925—purportedly coined in 1924 by Miguel Gonzales to describe Moe Berg in a telegram to Mike Kelley
Read More‘stand and grow good’: meanings and origin
UK, 1862—originally said to children in order that they develop an upright posture—came to be humorously used when declining a proffered seat
Read More‘kiss cam’: meaning and early occurrences
a live video feed in a sports arena showing images of selected couples in the audience in the expectation that they will kiss—USA and Canada, 2001
Read More‘God help those who are caught helping themselves’
addition to proverb ‘God helps those who help themselves’—USA, UK and Australia, late 19th century—originated as a warning to shoplifters
Read More‘all duck or no dinner’: meaning and origin
all or nothing—Australia, 1895—the image is of a dinner composed entirely of duck, i.e. of choice food, as opposed to no dinner at all
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