British uses of ‘a box of frogs’
has been colloquially used to express a great variety of notions, in particular ugliness and madness, but also unpleasantness, unpredictableness, agitation, disturbance, etc.
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‘spider sense’: two different meanings—and two different origins
UK, 1914: an apparent ability to sense or intuit the presence of nearby spiders—USA, 1963, in reference to Spider-Man: a supernatural ability or power to perceive things beyond the normal range of human senses
Read More‘a trout in the milk’: meaning and origin
highly convincing circumstantial evidence—USA, 1862—ascribed to Henry David Thoreau—refers to the practice of surreptitiously diluting milk with stream-water
Read More‘knacker’s yard’: meanings and origin
UK—1824: a slaughterhouse where old or injured horses are slaughtered and their bodies processed—1832: a notional place where ends up someone or something that is no longer useful or successful
Read More‘like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge’: meaning and origin
1894—in Australian English, the noun ‘bandicoot’, which designates an insectivorous marsupial native to Australia, has been used in numerous similes denoting deprivation or desolation
Read More‘to draw the crabs’: meanings and origin
Australia, 1932: to attract unwelcome attention or criticism—originally, WWI slang: to draw artillery fire from the enemy, in reference to crab shells, used with punning allusion to artillery shells
Read More‘(as) scarce as hen’s teeth’: meaning and origin
USA, 1831—very rare—since the late 17th century, the expression ‘hen’s teeth’ has been used as a type of something which is extremely rare, unattainable or non-existent
Read More‘silly as a wheel’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1931—extremely silly—the underlying notion is probably that anything is silly that does all the hard work
Read More‘a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle’: meaning and origin
also ‘a wigwam for a goose’s bridle’—UK, 1836—denotes something absurd or preposterous; now typically used evasively in response to an unwanted or annoying question
Read More‘one man’s meat is another man’s poisson’: meanings and origin
humorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—Australia, 1872—used in particular of the opposition between flesh-eating and fish-eating in relation to the religious observance of fasting
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