‘don’t hold your breath’: meaning and origin

3rd Apr 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

don’t wait in anxious anticipation—USA, 1854—the image is of somebody holding their breath when anxious or excited about something

‘who says romance is dead?’: meaning and early occurrences

2nd Apr 2020.Reading time 11 minutes.

used ironically of something regarded as prosaic or even thoroughly vulgar—USA, 1869—‘romance’: romantic love idealised for its purity or beauty

‘Flypaper Act’ | ‘to be under, or on, the flypaper’

1st Apr 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

UK slang, 1906—‘Flypaper Act’: the Prevention of Crimes Act—‘to be under, or on, the flypaper’: to be subject to the Prevention of Crimes Act

‘hell hath no fury like a woman’s corns’

30th Mar 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

Ireland, 1845: ‘hell has no fury like a woman corned’—puns on ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’, which refers to Congreve’s ‘The Mourning Bride’ (1697)

‘the squire has been foully murdered’: meaning, origin

30th Mar 2020.Reading time 11 minutes.

UK, 1918—popular among British soldiers during WWI—satirises “the squire has been foully murdered”, a topos from late-Victorian and Edwardian melodrama

notes on the British phrase ‘I’ve started, so I’ll finish’

28th Mar 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

gained currency from its use by Magnus Magnusson on the BBC-Television quiz programme ‘Mastermind’, which he presented from its creation in 1972 until 1997

meaning of ‘hit me now with the child in my arms’

27th Mar 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

Irish-English phrase—first recorded in 1892—used to express pretended fear of, and/or provocation to, a physical attack

meanings of ‘to give the cat another goldfish’

26th Mar 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

USA, 1919—‘spare no expense’—also ‘go all out for it’, ‘hand victory on a platter’, ‘allow yourself more of what you want’ (South Africa)

‘my name is Simpson, not Samson’: meaning and origin

25th Mar 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

UK, 1906—used by a workman asked to lift too heavy an object—‘Simpson’ chosen for its similarity with ‘Samson’, the name of a biblical hero of enormous strength

‘must you stay? can’t you go?’: origin and meanings

24th Mar 2020.Reading time 17 minutes.

UK, 1897—alteration of ‘must you go? can’t you stay?’ in Collections and Recollections, by G. W. E. Russell—originally used in reference to guests’ departure