“ad fontes!”
UK, 1849—transformation into a pumpkin; extravagant or absurdly uncritical glorification—coined after Hellenistic Greek ‘ἀποκολοκύντωσις’, the title of a travesty ascribed to Seneca, according to which the deceased Roman emperor Claudius, instead of being elevated to divine status, is changed into a pumpkin
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UK, 1870—based on the stereotype of Scots being miserly—from the story of the Scotsman who complained that he had to spend, in London, the small sum of sixpence
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said as a jest after the departure of a person or persons regarded as untrustworthy—apparently coined by the English lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Read MoreUK, 1862—‘in every direction’ and ‘in a disorganised or confused state’—apparently originated in sports slang
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‘slipshod’: ‘characterised by a lack of care, thought or organisation’—formed after the obsolete noun ‘slip-shoe’ (= ‘a loosely fitting shoe or slipper’); ‘shod’ (meaning ‘wearing shoes’) is the past participle of the verb ‘shoe’
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‘on the righteous side’—originally used in 1864 by Benjamin Disraeli to contrast the theory of evolution with the theory of the divine creation of humankind
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word histories 