‘plain vanilla’ | ‘vanilla sex’: early occurrences
from the popular perception of vanilla as the ordinary, bland flavour of ice-cream—USA—‘plain vanilla’ 1934—‘vanilla sex’ 1960
Read MoreTag: drinks
‘men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses’
USA—from two-line poem ‘News Item’ (1926), by Dorothy Parker—has given rise to jocular variants, especially playing on ‘glasses’ (eyewear/drinking containers)
Read More‘refreshes the parts other — cannot reach’
UK, 1976—from “Heineken. Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”, an advertising slogan for Heineken lager, in use from 1975 onwards
Read More‘protocol, alcohol and Geritol’: original meaning
USA, 1959—a summary of social life in Washington DC, especially for aged men—attributed by columnist Betty Beale to Columbia University President Grayson Kirk
Read Morehistory of ‘slower than the second coming of Christ’
extremely slow—USA, 1874—in Christian theology, the Second Coming of Christ is the prophesied return of Christ to Earth at the Last Judgement
Read More‘booze cruise’ #2: a British acceptation
1980—a brief excursion by ferry from Britain to France for the purposes of buying cheap alcohol, cigarettes, etc.—soon extended to a trip by coach, rail or car
Read More‘booze cruise’ #1: a Scottish acceptation
1950—Sunday trip by car or bus, making use of the bona fide clause in licensing laws, by which non-residents got alcohol—coined by Scottish novelist George Blake
Read More‘a bird cannot fly on one wing’: meaning and origin
USA, 1902—jocularly used to justify the necessity of taking another alcoholic drink—Irish variant (1947): ‘a bird never flew on one wing’
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘given away with a pound of tea’
UK, 1881—used of something considered tawdry—from the grocers’ former practice of making a free gift with every pound of tea or with any fair-sized order
Read Morethe phrase ‘(still) going strong, like Johnnie Walker’
UK, 1910—extended form of ‘going strong’ (continuing to be healthy, vigorous or successful)—from the advertising slogan for Scotch whisky Johnnie Walker
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word histories 