meaning and origin of the phrase ‘like a bride’s nightie’
Australia, 1969—used to denote a fast-moving person or situation—alludes to the quickness with which a bride’s nightdress comes off on the wedding night
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘not Pygmalion likely’
euphemistic jocular variant of ‘not bloody likely’—UK, 1914—from the sensation caused by the use of the expletive ‘bloody’ in George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’
Read More‘are there any more at home like you?’: usage and origin
chat-up line—from ‘Tell me, pretty maiden (I must love some one)’, a song of the musical comedy ‘Florodora’, produced in Britain in 1899 and in the USA in 1900
Read Morehistory of ‘did it hurt when you fell from heaven?’
originally a chat-up line that supposedly met a demand for originality (USA 1985)—while it soon became one of the favourite lines used by men, women loathe it
Read Morethe British and Irish phrase ‘No-Mates’ (friendless)
UK, 1993—a person, usually a man, regarded as friendless—often used as a humorous surname following a generic first name such as ‘Billy’
Read Morea Liverpudlian phrase: ‘don’t forget the diver’
1923—from Bernard Pykett’s plea when asking for money after his diving exhibitions—popularised from 1941 onwards by the BBC radio comedy programme It’s That Man Again
Read Morethe origin and various meanings of ‘buy me and stop one’
UK, 1970s: frequently scrawled on contraceptive-vending devices in public conveniences—reversal of ‘stop me and buy one’, Wall’s Ice Cream advertising slogan
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘stop me and buy one’
UK, 1920s—refers to a person going from one place to another with something to sell—from the slogan on the box-tricycles selling Wall’s Ice Cream
Read Moremeaning and history of ‘good enough for Punch’
UK, 1872—used of a very funny joke or real-life event—refers to ‘Punch or the London Charivari’, a British weekly magazine of humour and satire
Read Moremeaning and history of ‘to write to The Times about it’
UK, 1851—is or jokingly denotes a threat made by a member of the public to write to the London newspaper The Times to express outrage about a particular issue
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