meaning and early instances of ‘to wake up and smell the coffee’
USA, 1927—to face up to the realities of an unpleasant situation—popularised by American advice columnist Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Lederer – 1918-2002)
Read MoreTag: drinks
origin of the catchphrase ‘Alas! my poor brother’
from an advertisement for the concentrated beef extract Bovril, showing a bullock lamenting over a jar of the product
Read Moremeaning and origin of the football term ‘Tartan army’
England, 1971—(informal, humorous) the fans of the Scottish football team, considered as a group
Read More“Nice one, Cyril!”, or the birth of British catchphrases
a view on the manner in which catchphrases created by comedians and advertising gain currency
Read Moremeaning and early instances of the phrase ‘like shooting fish in a barrel’
very easy to accomplish—USA, 1902, although recorded in 1898 with perhaps a different meaning
Read Moremeaning and early instances of ‘as the bishop said to the actress’
UK, 1930—‘as the bishop said to the actress’, ‘as the actress said to the bishop’: mischievously implies a sexual innuendo or ambiguity in a preceding innocent remark
Read More‘beer and skittles’: meaning and origin
UK, 1831—In ‘beer and skittles’, denoting unmixed enjoyment, the image is of a person drinking beer while playing skittles.
Read Moreorigin of the phrase ‘three sheets in the wind’ (drunk)
comparison between a drunken person and a ship careering because the sheets (ropes controlling the sets of the sails) are hanging freely
Read Moreorigin of the Irish-English phrase ‘up the pole’ (‘pregnant’)
probably refers to pregnancy as an awkward condition, the image being apparently of an uncomfortable position at the top of a pole
Read MoreWho invented—and named—the Bloody Mary?
It seems that the American comedian George Jessel (1898-1981) invented the Bloody Mary and named it after Mary Brown Warburton (1896-1937).
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word histories 