‘culture vulture’ (a person who is voracious for culture)
USA, 1931—phrase based on the phonetic similarity of the two words that compose it—implies lack of discrimination
Read MoreHow ‘breadline’ originated in the action of a philanthropist.
originally (late 19th century) the queue of needy men waiting to be given bread outside Fleischmann’s Vienna Model Bakery, Broadway, New York City
Read Morenotes on ‘the Scottish play’ (euphemism for ‘Macbeth’)
early 20th century—according to theatrical superstition, ‘Macbeth’ is a very unlucky play—the origin of this belief is unknown
Read More‘trickle-down theory’ and ‘crumbs from a rich man’s table’
‘crumbs from a rich man’s table’—late 18th century—from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in the gospel of Luke, 16:19-31
Read Morehistory of ‘crow’s nest’ (lookout platform on a ship’s mast)
UK, early 19th century—The invention of the crow’s nest is attributed to the Arctic whaler William Scoresby Senior (1760-1829).
Read Moreorigin of the phrase ‘as the crow flies’ (in a straight line)
Attested in 1761, ‘as the crow flies’ originally referred to the interior of a country; it did not originate in a practice of early navigation at sea.
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to paper over the cracks’
to use a temporary expedient—UK, 1889—origin attributed to Prussian statesman Bismarck in a letter written during the negotiations of the Convention of Gastein (1865)
Read Moreorigin of ‘couch potato’ and of ‘boob tuber’ (TV addict)
In ‘couch potato’, ‘potato’ may be a pun on ‘tuber’ in ‘boob tuber’, from ‘boob tube’ (= television (set)), in which ‘boob’ means ‘stupid, foolish’.
Read Moreorigin of ‘gone coon’ (a person or thing that is beyond hope)
USA, 1837—The image is of a racoon that has been treed but the construction ‘gone + animal name’ has more generally been used in phrases of same sense.
Read Moreorigin of ‘bee’ (social gathering for a specific purpose)
USA, late 18th century—perhaps a folk-etymological alteration of British dialectal variants of ‘boon’, meaning ‘help given by neighbours’
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word histories 