meanings and origin of the phrase ‘visiting fireman’

19th Feb 2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

USA, 1909—a person given especially cordial treatment while visiting an organisation or place; a tourist expected to spend freely

meaning and origin of the phrase ‘the silly season’

17th Feb 2019.Reading time 12 minutes.

coined in The Saturday Review (London, 13 July 1861) about the shortage of important news in autumn in The Times of London

15th Feb 2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK, 1862—‘in every direction’ and ‘in a disorganised or confused state’—apparently originated in sports slang

14th Feb 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

to put more effort in it—1976 with reference to putting one’s foot down on the accelerator pedal in a motor vehicle

13th Feb 2019.Reading time 14 minutes.

USA—‘whammy’ (baseball, 1927): evil influence or hex—‘double whammy’ (boxing, 1938): evil spell more potent than a whammy

11th Feb 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

USA, 1984—the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards viewed as a single achievement—coined by U.S. actor and musician Philip Michael Thomas

10th Feb 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

USA, 1878—to misunderstand—alludes to an accidental connexion between telephone or telegraph wires of different lines or circuits

9th Feb 2019.Reading time 17 minutes.

sexual intercourse conducted quickly and without tenderness—originally used (USA, 1950) in the generic, neutral sense of ‘quickness’

7th Feb 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

Ireland, 1820—violent quarrel—refers to the fact that wigs are liable to fall or to be pulled off in a fray

6th Feb 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

USA—probably a reduplication based on ‘honk’—appeared in Texas as the name of a theatre (1889) and of a variety show (1890)