meanings and origin of the term ‘Philadelphia lawyer’
USA, 1788—an able, clever lawyer; now often one who is unscrupulous in the manipulation of the law—from Philadelphia lawyers’ reputation since the colonial period
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meaning and history of the term ‘man flu’
1999—a cold as experienced by a man who is regarded as exaggerating the severity of the symptoms—popularised by British magazine Nuts in 2006
Read Moremeaning and origin of the adjective ‘Capraesque’
UK, 1939—characteristic of, or similar in spirit to, the films of the Italian-born American film director Frank Capra (1897-1991)
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘Barmecide feast’
UK, 1823—pretended or illusory generosity or hospitality—from the name of a prince in The Arabian Nights, who gave a beggar a feast consisting of empty dishes
Read Morethe curious case of the French word ‘oignon’
Decided by the Académie française, the erroneous spelling ‘oignon’ (= ‘onion’) has become a symbol of prejudiced people, ignorant of the history of their own language.
Read More‘greasy spoon’: early instances; connexions with German
1850, in The Times of London, apparently as a translation from German—later instances (Minnesota, 1891-98) also associated with German to an extent or another
Read Morehistory of the phrase ‘tin Jesus’
USA, 1874, as ‘a little tin Jesus on wheels’—in reference to tin as a base metal, ‘tin’ is used figuratively in the senses ‘petty’, ‘worthless’, ‘counterfeit’
Read Moremeanings and origin of the British phrase ‘to come the (old) acid’
to behave in an unpleasant, aggressive or overbearing manner; to speak in a sarcastic or caustic way—British Army slang, World War I
Read Moremeanings and origin of the British-English phrase ‘to go west’
to die; to be lost or destroyed; to meet with disaster—1914, Army slang—probably from the notion of the setting sun symbolising disappearance or finality
Read Moreorigin of ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’
UK, 1892—postdates by several years variants such as ‘eat an apple on going to bed, and you will keep the doctor from earning his bread’
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word histories 