‘dead-cat strategy’: meaning and origin

24th Mar 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

the strategy consisting in deliberately making a shocking announcement in order to divert attention from a difficulty in which one is embroiled—from the image of throwing a dead cat on the table—first defined in 2013 by Boris Johnson

‘drama queen’: meaning and origin

19th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

(derogatory) a person who is prone to exaggeratedly dramatic behaviour—UK, 1978

‘wet blanket’: meanings and origin

18th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

literally (1618): a blanket dampened with water so as to extinguish a fire—figuratively (1775): a person or thing that has a subduing or inhibiting effect

‘to put two and two together’: meaning and origin

17th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

to draw an obvious inference from available evidence—early 19th century—but ‘two and two make four’, used as as a paradigm of the obvious conclusion, is first recorded in the late 17th century

‘that makes two of us’: meaning and origin

15th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

used conversationally to declare, often ironically, that one shares the opinion, sentiment, predicament, etc., of the previous speaker—USA, early 20th century

‘truth is stranger than fiction’: meaning and origin

14th Mar 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

real events and situations are often more remarkable or incredible than those made up in fiction—first occurred as ‘truth is always strange, stranger than fiction’ in Don Juan (1823), by George Gordon Byron

‘to swear like a trooper’: meaning and origin

13th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

to use a lot of swearwords—first used in 1713 by Joseph Addison—alludes to the fact that troopers (i.e., soldiers of low rank in the cavalry) had a reputation for coarse language and behaviour

to be caught with one’s pants down’: meaning and origin

11th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

to be caught off-guard; to be surprised in an embarrassing or compromising situation—USA, 1886

‘the oldest trick in the book’: meaning and origin

10th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

a ruse or stratagem that is still effective although it has been used for a long time—USA, 1929—seems to have originated in sports

‘town and gown’: meaning and origin

8th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

1750—the non-academic inhabitants (‘town’) of a university city and the resident members of the university (‘gown’, denoting the distinctive costume of a member of a university)