meaning and origin of ‘as dead as the dodo’
UK, 1852—of a person or thing: irretrievably defunct or out of date—with reference to the extinct bird of Mauritius
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meaning and origin of ‘bright-eyed and bushy-tailed’
USA, 1940—alert and lively—originated in the conventional image of a healthy, spirited squirrel or other animal
Read Moreorigin of ‘to throw one’s hat in(to) the ring’
UK, 1820—to show willingness to enter into a contest or take up a challenge, especially in business or politics—originally (1804) used in boxing with reference to the custom of throwing a hat into the ring to signal willingness to enter a contest
Read Moreorigin of ‘to [verb] the living daylights out of somebody’
The adjective ‘living’ is an intensifier, and ‘daylights’ is an 18th-century slang term for ‘eyes’ chiefly used in contexts of physical violence or threats.
Read Morethe tautological phrase ‘in this day and age’
‘in this day and age’ (‘at the present time’)—USA, 1832—tautology, that is to say, ‘day’ and ‘age’ are synonymous, ‘day’ meaning ‘a period of time’
Read More‘don’t give up the day job’ (your performance fails to impress)
USA, 1951—used as a humorous way of recommending someone not to pursue something at which they are unlikely to be successful
Read Moreorigin of ‘tired and emotional’ (jocular euphemism for ‘drunk’)
coined as ‘tired and overwrought’ in ‘Private Eye’ (London) of 29 September 1967 about British Labour politician George Brown (1914-85)
Read Morethe curious French equivalents of ‘window shopping’
How Adolf Hitler popularised ‘heads will roll’ in 1930.
based on the notion of execution by beheading—popularised by a literal threat of executions made on 25th September 1930 by Adolf Hitler
Read Moreone more discussion about ‘Indian summer’
the problems with the “novel origin story for ‘Indian Summer’” put forward by Matthew R. Halley in Notes and Queries (September 2017)
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word histories 