history of ‘come up and see my etchings’
USA, early 20th century—used as an invitation to sexual dalliance—in 1937, William Hays’s censorship office apparently banned it in cinema films
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meaning and origin of ‘booked any good Reds lately?’
USA, 1941—jocular alteration of the conversational gambit ‘read any good books lately?’ with reference to the investigations into alleged Communist activity
Read More‘to play billiards well is a sign of a misspent youth’
UK, 1884—often erroneously attributed to philosopher Herbert Spencer, who said he only repeated an assertion made by a friend of his, Charles Roupell
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘put that in your pipe and smoke it’
accept that fact if you can—1820: Irish English and associated with the obsolete figurative sense ‘to consider’ of the verb ‘smoke’
Read Morehistory of the phrase ‘every picture tells a story’
used of images suggestive of real or imaginary events—UK and USA early 1900s: popularised by its use as an advertising slogan for Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills
Read More‘mushroom treatment: kept in the dark and fed bullshit’
American English, 1965—signification: to be kept in a state of ignorance and told nonsense—in use a few years later in Australian English and British English
Read More‘Is a bear Catholic?’ | ‘Does the Pope shit in the woods?’
USA, 1984—used to indicate that something is blatantly obvious—humorously from ‘Is the Pope Catholic?’ and ‘Does a bear shit in the woods?’
Read Morehistory of the phrase ‘Does a bear shit in the woods?’
USA—used ironically as a response to a question or statement felt to be blatantly obvious—from 1959 onwards as ‘Does a bear live in the woods?’ and variants
Read Morenotes on the phrase ‘Is the Pope (a) Catholic?’
USA, 1951—rhetorical question used ironically as a response to a question or statement felt to be blatantly obvious
Read More‘a bird cannot fly on one wing’: meaning and origin
USA, 1902—jocularly used to justify the necessity of taking another alcoholic drink—Irish variant (1947): ‘a bird never flew on one wing’
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word histories 