‘curtain-twitching’ | ‘curtain-twitcher’

14th Nov 2022.Reading time 13 minutes.

used of a person who likes to observe other people’s activities from his or her window, in a furtive and prying manner—UK and Ireland, 1940

‘cupboard love’: meaning and origin

12th Nov 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

love or affection insincerely professed or displayed as a means of gaining a benefit or advantage—circa 1665—the image is of love given in return for food from a cupboard

‘nincompoopiana’: meaning and origin

11th Nov 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

the affected dandyism of the writers, artists, etc., associated with the aesthetic movement, which advocated a doctrine of ‘art for art’s sake’—UK, 1879—coined by George Du Maurier in cartoons published in Punch

‘yellow peril’: meaning and origin

9th Nov 2022.Reading time 10 minutes.

the political, military or economical threat regarded as being posed by certain peoples of South-East and East Asia, especially the Chinese and the Japanese—UK, 1895—loan translation from French ‘péril jaune’

‘between a rock and a hard place’: meaning and origin

7th Nov 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

faced with two equally difficult alternatives; in a dilemma—USA, 1914

‘to clutch the pearls’: meaning and origin

6th Nov 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

to react with shock or dismay, especially in response to something considered immoral, underhand or vulgar—USA, 1990—from an episode of the sketch-comedy television series In Living Color, broadcast on 15th April 1990

‘what can you expect from a hog but a grunt?’: meaning and early occurrences

5th Nov 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

meaning: a person cannot be expected to behave in a manner that is not in their character—numerous variants—first recorded in 1731 as ‘If we petition a Hog, what can we expect but a grunt’

‘(as) independent as a hog on ice’: meaning and origin

3rd Nov 2022.Reading time 14 minutes.

(humorous and frequently ironic) determinedly or stubbornly independent—USA, 1841—apparently refers to the extreme helplessness of a hog (i.e., a pig) on the ice

‘holier-than-thou’: meaning and origin

2nd Nov 2022.Reading time 13 minutes.

self-righteously or sanctimoniously virtuous, or professing to be so—UK, 1834—alludes to the Book of Isaiah, 65:5: “Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.”

‘Roman holiday’: meaning and origin

1st Nov 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

an occasion on which enjoyment or profit is derived from the suffering or discomfiture of others—UK, 1836—alludes to the description of a gladiator dying in a Roman arena in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1818), by Byron