‘as scarce as rocking-horse manure’: meaning and origin

28th Dec 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

Australia, 1937—very scarce—‘rocking horse’: a toy horse mounted on rockers or springs for a child to sit on and rock to and fro—this phrase has come to be also used in British English and American English

‘were you born in a sawmill?’ | ‘were you born in a barn?’

27th Dec 2021.Reading time 11 minutes.

USA, late 19th century—these phrases a) express mild remonstrance towards a person who has left a door open, exposing others to a draft; b) indicate that a person is behaving in a rude or uncouth manner

‘flexitarian’: meaning and origin

25th Dec 2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

USA, 1992 (1981?)—adjective: primarily but not strictly vegetarian—noun: a person who follows a primarily but not strictly vegetarian diet—a blend of ‘flexible’ and ‘vegetarian’

‘sly grog’: meaning and origin

24th Dec 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

Australia, 1825—liquor sold without a licence—here, the adjective ‘sly’ means ‘secret’, ‘covert’, ‘clandestine’

‘to talk through (the back of) one’s neck’

22nd Dec 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

1890s—to use extravagant words or language not substantiated by fact; to talk nonsense—occurs in particular in stories by the British authors Ernest William Hornung (1866-1921) and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975)

‘false dawn’: meanings and origin

21st Dec 2021.Reading time 12 minutes.

1809—a transient light preceding the true dawn by about an hour, a phenomenon common in Eastern countries—translates Arabic ‘ṣubḥ kāḏib’—figuratively: a hopeful sign that can prove either illusory or authentic

‘at someone’s beck and call’: meaning and origin

20th Dec 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

1580—always having to be ready to obey someone’s orders immediately—‘beck’ denotes a mute signal or significant gesture (such as a nod or a motion of the hand), indicating assent or notifying a command

‘get on your bike’ (exhortation to take action)

19th Dec 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK—since 1981, has been associated with a speech by the Employment Secretary, Norman Tebbit, at the Conservative Party conference, in which he exhorted the unemployed to go and find work, like his father, who had “got on his bike and looked for work”

‘999’ (British emergency telephone number)

17th Dec 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

‘999’ denotes the telephone number used to contact the emergency services in the United Kingdom. This telephone number was introduced in 1937 by Walter Womersley, who was then the Assistant Postmaster-General.

‘barbecue stopper’: meaning and origin

15th Dec 2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

Australia—a controversial current-affairs topic—the image is that such a topic is likely to interrupt a barbecue with loud debate—coined in 2001 by the Australian Prime Minister John Howard during his re-election campaign