‘food for powder’: meaning and origin

23rd Oct 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

soldiers, especially low-ranking recruits, collectively regarded as expendable in war—UK, 1740—coined by William Shakespeare in Henry IV, Part 1 (1598)

‘cannon fodder’ | ‘chair à canon’

22nd Oct 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

soldiers regarded simply as material to be expended in war—‘cannon fodder’ (1847), said to have been coined after German ‘Kanonenfutter’—French ‘chair à canon’ (1814), first used in reference to Napoléon Bonaparte

‘wokerati’: meaning and origin

21st Oct 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

USA, 2019, derogatory—people (regarded as elitist and pretentious) who are alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice—a blend of the adjective ‘woke’ and of the noun ‘literati’

‘godwottery’: meanings and origin

20th Oct 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

gardening or garden design in an affected, fussily decorative or over-elaborate style; archaic and affected language—UK, 1931—alludes to “A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!”, in My Garden (1893), by the Manx poet T. E. Brown

‘hovercraft’: meanings and origin

19th Oct 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

a vehicle which travels on a cushion of air—UK, 1958, apparently coined by engineer Christopher Sydney Cockerell—also, USA, 1958, in the sense of “a flying car”

‘hot-arsed’: meaning and origin

18th Oct 2022.Reading time 8 minutes.

slang—(used especially of women) lustful; sexually aroused or arousing—first recorded in The Confession of the New Married Couple (London, 1683)

‘autumn-spring’: meanings and origin

17th Oct 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

a period of warm, springlike weather occurring in the autumn—hence, figuratively, a late period of youthfulness—first used from 1639 onwards by the Anglican clergyman and historian Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)

‘Bunburying’: meaning and origin

16th Oct 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

UK, 1895—the use of an imaginary person as a fictitious excuse for visiting a place or avoiding obligations—from ‘Bunbury’, the name of an imaginary character in The Importance of being Earnest (first performed in 1895), by Oscar Wilde

‘honest Injun’: meaning and origin

15th Oct 2022.Reading time 13 minutes.

used as an interjection to assert truthfulness, honour or sincerity—USA, 1851, as ‘honest Indian’—perhaps alludes to the fact that, in their past interactions with Europeans, Native Americans had to give assurance of their good faith

‘to keep the bastards honest’: meaning and origin

14th Oct 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

to ensure that politicians, large business organisations, etc., behave fairly and openly, and are accountable for their actions—Australia, 1980—coined by Don Chipp, Leader of the Australian Democrats, with reference to the major political parties