‘one’s cheese slipped off one’s cracker’: meaning and origin
one is no longer rational or sane—USA, 1983
Read MoreTag: Canada
‘hitwoman’: meanings and origin
1973: a woman who works as a hired killer—hence, 1975: a woman who carries out a particular task effectively and ruthlessly—coined after ‘hitman’
Read More‘to drain the main vein’: meaning and origin
to urinate—slang—2nd half of the 20th century—based on the sound /eɪn/, common to the verb, adjective and noun that compose it—‘main vein’ probably refers to the penis
Read More‘quel idiot!’: meaning and origin
UK, 1917—‘what an idiot!’—a borrowing from French
Read More‘war cake’: meaning and origin
a cake made with the ingredients available during wartime—first used during the First World War (1914-1918)—came back into usage during the Second World War (1939-1945)
Read More‘Left-Bankish’: meaning and origin
USA, 1936—characteristic or reminiscent of the Left Bank (‘Rive Gauche’ in French), the part of Paris south of the River Seine, noted for its intellectual and artistic life
Read More‘chef’s kiss’: meanings and origin
1975 as ‘French chef’s kiss’—a gesture used to indicate that something is excellent or perfect—also a perfect or excellent person or thing—alludes to such a gesture stereotypically made by a chef on tasting a delectable dish
Read More‘Molotov cocktail’: meaning, origin and early occurrences
a makeshift incendiary device for throwing by hand, consisting of a bottle filled with flammable liquid and with a piece of cloth as a fuse—Finland, 1940, in reference to Vyacheslav M. Molotov, who led the Soviet campaign against Finland
Read More‘snow angel’: meanings and early occurrences
Canada, 1857: an angelic being imagined as being the source of a fall of snow—USA, 1893 (?): an impression in the snow resembling an angel, made by lying on one’s back and moving one’s arms and legs back and forth in an arc along the ground
Read More‘a horse’s head in one’s bed’: meaning and origin
USA, 1972—a chilling warning given to somebody—from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), in which the severed head of a horse is left as a warning in a film producer’s bed
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