‘the pen is mightier than the sword’: meaning and early occurrences

1st Jul 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

writing is more effective than military power or violence—UK, 1832—often erroneously ascribed to E. Bulwer-Lytton in ‘Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy’ (1839)

‘get inside and pull the blinds down’: meaning and early occurrences

30th Jun 2020.Reading time 14 minutes.

addressed to a poor horseman—means ‘get out of the public view and hide in shame’—UK, 1842

‘don’t do anything I wouldn’t’: meaning and early occurrences

28th Jun 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

used upon parting, and often jocularly, this phrase means ‘behave yourself’—USA, 1911—had become hackneyed by 1918

‘a storm in a teacup’ | ‘une tempête dans un verre d’eau’

28th Jun 2020.Reading time 10 minutes.

a great commotion about a trivial matter—‘a storm in a teacup’: UK, 1775—‘une tempête dans un verre d’eau’: France, 1785

‘blind Freddy’: meaning and origin

25th Jun 2020.Reading time 18 minutes.

personifies the highest degree of disability or incompetence—Sydney, Australia, 1910s—variant, probably referring to a local individual, of the earlier synonymous phrase ‘blind man’

‘time flies? you cannot: they go too fast’: meaning and early occurrences

24th Jun 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK, 1904—punning extension (in which ‘time’ is a verb, and ‘flies’ a noun) of the cliché ‘time flies’

‘would you buy a second-hand car from this man?’: origin and early occurrences

23rd Jun 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

USA—originally used during the 1960 presidential election campaign by the Democratic Party to denigrate Richard Nixon, the Republican Party’s nominee

‘you, too, can have a body like mine’: origin and early occurrences

22nd Jun 2020.Reading time 18 minutes.

originated in magazine advertisements for the bodybuilding course created and marketed by Italian-born U.S. bodybuilder Charles Atlas (Angelo Siciliano – 1892-1972)

meaning of the phrase ‘awkward turtle’

20th Jun 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

U.S. slang, 2005—a gesture consisting in placing one hand on top of the other and wiggling the thumbs, made to reduce embarrassment

‘Coggeshall job’: meaning and origin

19th Jun 2020.Reading time 13 minutes.

any muddle-headed business—UK, 1813—the stupidity of the people of Coggeshall, a small town in Essex, England, has been proverbial since the mid-17th century