‘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

‘to drive pigs (to market)’: meaning and origin

30th Oct 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

to snore—UK, 1828—this phrase likens a person’s snoring to the sound made by a herd of pigs

‘please the pigs’: meaning and early occurrences

29th Oct 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

meaning: if circumstances permit, if all is well—first recorded in 1683—of unknown origin

‘pig in a python’: meanings and origin

28th Oct 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

Canada, 1970—the people who were born during the ‘baby boom’ of the years immediately following WWII, considered as a demographic bulge—any short-term increase or notably large group

‘ember months’: meaning and origin

26th Oct 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

the final four months of the calendar year, i.e., September, October, November and December—UK, 1863—from ‘-ember’ in ‘September’, ‘November’ and ‘December’

‘Guardianista’: meaning and origin

25th Oct 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

a reader of, or a writer in, The Guardian, seen as being typically left-wing, liberal and politically correct—UK, 1997—The Guardian is a centre-left newspaper published in London and Manchester, England

‘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’