‘since Pontius was a pilot’: meaning and origin

15th Mar 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

meaning: ‘for a very long time’—UK, 1944—with a pun on ‘Pilate’, originated in the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War

‘the more firma, the less terra’: meanings and origin

14th Mar 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

expresses distrust at air or sea travel—USA, 1926—with a pun on ‘terror’, jocularly decouples from each other the components of ‘terra firma’ (firm land)

‘Tabloid’ was originally a pharmaceutical trademark.

13th Apr 2017.Reading time 14 minutes.

The pharmaceutical firm Burroughs, Wellcome & Company was founded in London in 1880 by the American-born entrepreneurs Silas Burroughs (1846-95) and Henry Wellcome (1853-1936). They registered the name Tabloid (with capital initial) on 14th March 1884, as a trademark for concentrated drugs and medicines in tablet form. (It remains a proprietary name to this day.) The firm applied the […]

origin of ‘Mayday’ (international radio distress signal)

3rd Nov 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

The word Mayday, which dates from 1923, is used as an international radio distress signal, especially by ships and aircraft. It was supposedly coined by Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897-1962), a senior radio officer at London’s Croydon Airport, but this has not been substantiated: the fact that this story has often been repeated gives it a semblance […]