history of ‘that schoolgirl complexion’

12th Apr 2020.Reading time 10 minutes.

American English 1921–British and Irish English 1923—although it was already a cliché, ‘schoolgirl complexion’ was popularised by the advertising slogan for Palmolive Soap

‘that Kruschen feeling’: meaning and origin

10th Apr 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

great vitality, enthusiasm and liveliness—UK, 1922—originally (from 1921 onwards) used in the advertisements for Kruschen Salts

‘that job’s jobbed’: meaning and early occurrences

10th Apr 2020.Reading time 10 minutes.

used to express satisfaction when a task that has called for more than usual enterprise and determination has been accomplished—UK, 1833

‘all one’s Christmases come at once’: early occurrences

9th Apr 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

one is experiencing remarkably good fortune; one has everything one could have wished or hoped for—Australia, 1932

notes on ‘see you later, agitator’

7th Apr 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

USA, 1956—jocular variant of equally jocular ‘see you later, alligator’ (1952)—recoined on separate occasions by various persons, independently from one another

the anti-nuclear phrase ‘one flash and you’re ash’

6th Apr 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

Australia, 1953—slogan used by opponents of nuclear weapons—also used in New Zealand

‘to go to Lilywhite’s party’: meaning and origin

5th Apr 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

USA, 1887—of a child: to go to bed—‘Lilywhite’ refers to the whiteness of the bedsheets—from ‘lily-white’, meaning ‘white as a lily’, hence ‘of a pure white’