notes on the phrase ‘your head’s on fire’
UK, 1785—has been used to address a red-haired person—sometimes followed by the retort ‘there’s enough water in yours to put it out’ and variants
Read MoreTag: discriminations
‘wogs begin at Calais’: meaning and origin
1947—is used to express an attitude of insularity and hostility to foreigners attributed to the British—a shortening of ‘golliwog’, the derogatory and offensive noun ‘wog’ designates a non-white person
Read More‘coconut (black)’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1981—used by some Aborigines of those who are considered to have betrayed their Aboriginal identity in order to be accepted into the white Australian society—the image is that (like the coconut, dark on the outside, but white on the inside) those Aboriginal ‘betrayers’ are outwardly black, but inwardly white
Read More‘jump up whitefellow’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1830—refers to the Aboriginal belief that light-skinned persons are reincarnations of dead Aborigines—extended forms: ‘jump up white fellow, plenty of sixpence’ and ‘go down blackfellow and jump up whitefellow’
Read More‘Onion Johnny’: meaning and cultural background
UK, 1877—an onion-seller from Brittany who sold onions door-to-door around the coasts of Britain—used with modifying word, ‘Johnny’ designates a person of the type, profession, etc., specified
Read More‘rugby, racing and beer’: meaning and origin
the three traditional interests of the stereotypical New-Zealand man—it seems, however, that in early use the phrase was applied to both sexes—1963 in a U.S. newspaper
Read More‘Coggeshall job’: meaning and origin
any muddle-headed business—UK, 1813—the stupidity of the people of Coggeshall, a small town in Essex, England, has been proverbial since the mid-17th century
Read More‘behind the eight ball’: meaning and origin
in trouble; at a disadvantage—USA, 1923—refers to a position in a game of pool in which a player cannot make a direct shot at the target ball because the black eight ball obstructs the cue ball
Read Morea male-chauvinistic phrase: ‘barefoot(ed) and pregnant’
USA, 1938—male-chauvinistic phrase meaning that the place of women is in the home and that their role is to bear children—also ‘pregnant and barefoot(ed)’
Read Morehistory of the acronym ‘ACAB’
1970—British and Irish English—acronym from the phrase ‘all coppers are bastards’—customarily written (tattooed in particular) rather than spoken
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