meaning and origin of ‘Matthew effect’ and of ‘Matthew principle’
USA, 1960s—those who already have will receive more—refers to gospel of Matthew—coined by sociologist Robert King Merton
Read MoreTag: agriculture
origin of ‘bee’ (social gathering for a specific purpose)
USA, late 18th century—perhaps a folk-etymological alteration of British dialectal variants of ‘boon’, meaning ‘help given by neighbours’
Read Morethe tautological phrase ‘in this day and age’
‘in this day and age’ (‘at the present time’)—USA, 1832—tautology, that is to say, ‘day’ and ‘age’ are synonymous, ‘day’ meaning ‘a period of time’
Read Moreorigin of ‘throw a monkey wrench into’: threshing machines
The original image was of throwing a monkey wrench into the cylinder of a threshing machine, and was exclusively applied to political situations—USA, late 19th century.
Read Moreorigin of ‘apple polisher’ (a person who curries favour)
USA—‘apple polisher’ (1918): a person who curries favour with a superior; ‘apple polishing’ (1926): (an instance of) currying favour—with reference to the former practice of bringing a shiny apple as a gift to one’s teacher
Read Moreorigin of the Australian phrase ‘Sydney or the bush’
‘Sydney or the bush’: all or nothing (1902)—based on the metaphorical opposition between an easy life in the city and a hard life working in the outback, this phrase was apparently originally used by people risking all on the toss of a coin.
Read Moreorigin of ‘to take the cake’ and ‘to take the biscuit’
‘take the cake’ (US, 1839) alludes probably to cake as the prize in a contest, but maybe not to cakewalk—‘take the biscuit’ (US, 1879) used in British English
Read More‘Mediterranean’: the sea in the middle of the earth
from Latin ‘mare Mediterraneum’, ‘the sea in the middle of the earth’—Latin ‘mediterrāneus’, from Greek ‘mesόgaios’, ‘situated in the middle of the land’
Read Moremilitary origin of ‘to save the day’
originated in the context of military engagements: ‘day’ denotes ‘a day of contest on the battlefield’ and the phrase means ‘to avert defeat in battle’
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘let the cobbler stick to his last’
‘Let the cobbler stick to his last’ goes back to Pliny’s story of the Greek artist Apelles answering a cobbler who had criticised one of his paintings.
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word histories 