notes on ‘no joy without alloy’
also ‘no joy without annoy’—meaning: there is a trace of trouble or difficulty in every pleasure—was already a common proverb in the late sixteenth century
Read More‘early doors’ (near the beginning)
UK, 1976—the colloquial phrase ‘early doors’ means ‘early on’, ‘at an early stage’—frequently occurs in the context of football—of unknown origin
Read More‘early door(s)’ (early admission to a theatrical performance)
UK, 1877—a period of admission ending some time before the beginning of a theatrical performance, in order to offer a guaranteed seat or a wider selection of seating, typically for a higher price
Read More‘to go (and) jump in(to) the lake’: meaning and origin
to go away and stop being a nuisance—chiefly used in the imperative as a contemptuous dismissal—USA, 1883—the image is of somebody jumping into a lake and drowning
Read More‘Bardolatry’: meaning and origin
excessive reverence for William Shakespeare—1901, coined by George Bernard Shaw—from ‘the Bard’, an epithet of William Shakespeare, and the combining form ‘-olatry’, forming nouns with the sense ‘worship of’, ‘excessive reverence for’
Read More‘humongous’: meaning and origin
extremely large, huge, enormous—USA, 1967—of uncertain origin; probably a factitious adjective coined on the suffix ‘-ous’, influenced by ‘hugeous’ and ‘monstrous’, and perhaps by the stress-patterns of ‘stupendous’, ‘tremendous’, etc.
Read More‘Wardour-Street English’: meaning and origin
inauthentic archaic language, especially as affected by authors of historical novels—UK, 1867—alludes to the fact that, in the 19th century, Wardour Street, in London, became known for its many shops specialising in imitations of antique furniture
Read More‘not to be just a pretty face’: meaning and early occurrences
to have qualities other than mere attractiveness, especially intelligence—UK, 1955—paradoxically, in early use, often employed in a sexist manner
Read More‘to extract the Michael’: meaning and origin
humorous—a polite variant of the informal phrase to ‘take the mickey out of’, meaning ‘to tease or ridicule’—UK, 1956
Read More‘plonk’ (cheap inferior wine): origin and early occurrences
Australia, 1927—alteration of ‘blanc’ in French ‘vin blanc’ (‘white wine’)—via rhyming slang forms such as ‘plinketty-plonk’, from phrases such as ‘vin blank’ in the slang of soldiers stationed in France during WWI
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word histories 