‘flopbuster’: meaning and origin

21st Jul 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

a film which fails to achieve the commercial success that was expected—UK, 1986—from ‘flop’ (a failure) and ‘-buster’ in ‘blockbuster’ (a film which achieves great commercial success)

‘back o’ Bourke’: meaning and origin

20th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

a remote and sparsely populated inland area of Australia—1896, in a poem by William Henry Ogilvie—refers to Bourke, the most remote town in north-western New South Wales

‘get-out-of-jail-free card’: meaning and origin

19th Jul 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

something that enables a person to evade punishment, adverse consequences or an undesirable situation—refers to a card in the game of Monopoly which allows a player to leave the jail square

‘the school of (the) hard knocks’: meaning and early occurrences

17th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

the experience of a life of hardship regarded as a means of instruction—USA, 1870

‘to walk like an Egyptian’: meaning and origin

16th Jul 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

to walk with arms extended, elbows and wrists bent at right angles, one arm up, one down—1962 in To Kill a Mockingbird—refers to the representation of the human body by the ancient Egyptians

‘the university of life’: meaning and early occurrences

15th Jul 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

USA, 1854—the experience of life regarded as a means of instruction, in contrast to formal (higher) education—now often used with the implication that life experience is of greater benefit than formal education

‘talking head’: meaning and early occurrences

14th Jul 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

USA, 1963—frequently in plural: a person on television who is shown merely speaking, as in a newscast or an interview

‘to drive a coach and horses through something’: meaning and origin

13th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

1691—to expose the flaws in something such as a law, a policy, an argument or a belief—these flaws are likened to holes large enough to drive a coach and horses through them

‘blue funk’ (American usage)

11th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

a state of depression or despair—1893—a shift in meaning of the British-English expression ‘blue funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread (the original meaning in American English)

‘blue funk’ (British and Irish usage)

10th Jul 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

a state of extreme nervousness or dread—UK, mid-19th century—‘blue’ is an intensifier of ‘funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread