‘to play billiards well is a sign of a misspent youth’

7th Jan 2020.Reading time 15 minutes.

UK, 1884—often erroneously attributed to philosopher Herbert Spencer, who said he only repeated an assertion made by a friend of his, Charles Roupell

meaning and origin of ‘put that in your pipe and smoke it’

6th Jan 2020.Reading time 13 minutes.

accept that fact if you can—1820: Irish English and associated with the obsolete figurative sense ‘to consider’ of the verb ‘smoke’

history of the phrase ‘every picture tells a story’

3rd Jan 2020.Reading time 19 minutes.

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

‘mushroom treatment: kept in the dark and fed bullshit’

1st Jan 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

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

‘Is a bear Catholic?’ | ‘Does the Pope shit in the woods?’

30th Dec 2019.Reading time 15 minutes.

USA, 1984—used to indicate that something is blatantly obvious—humorously from ‘Is the Pope Catholic?’ and ‘Does a bear shit in the woods?’

history of the phrase ‘Does a bear shit in the woods?’

29th Dec 2019.Reading time 22 minutes.

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

notes on the phrase ‘Is the Pope (a) Catholic?’

27th Dec 2019.Reading time 16 minutes.

USA, 1951—rhetorical question used ironically as a response to a question or statement felt to be blatantly obvious

‘a bird cannot fly on one wing’: meaning and origin

25th Dec 2019.Reading time 20 minutes.

USA, 1902—jocularly used to justify the necessity of taking another alcoholic drink—Irish variant (1947): ‘a bird never flew on one wing’

‘no magic money (tree)’: justification for austerity

24th Dec 2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

2017-18: when confronted by nurses, both British Prime Minister and French President justified austerity policies by arguing that there is no magic money (tree)

history of ‘money tree’ and ‘to shake the money tree’

23rd Dec 2019.Reading time 12 minutes.

‘money tree’ (UK, 1749): a source of easily obtained or unlimited money—‘to shake the money tree’ (UK, 1851)—related to proverb ‘money does not grow on trees’