“ad fontes!”
alludes to a British cavalry charge in 1854 during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War—the phrase has had a variety of meanings, depending on the acceptation in which ‘charge’ has been used
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UK, 1870—based on the stereotype of Scots being miserly—from the story of the Scotsman who complained that he had to spend, in London, the small sum of sixpence
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USA, 1919—‘spare no expense’—also ‘go all out for it’, ‘hand victory on a platter’, ‘allow yourself more of what you want’ (South Africa)
Read MoreUK, 1907—the ideal of an unmarried woman—the phrase was especially used when offering to an unmarried woman the last cake or piece of bread from a plate
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UK, 1976—from “Heineken. Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”, an advertising slogan for Heineken lager, in use from 1975 onwards
Read MoreUK, 1963—ostentatious vulgarity in social life—from the literal sense of a fashionably dressed woman whose appearance covers vulgarity
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UK, 1899—warning that touring actors wrote in the visitors’ books of low-quality lodgings—alludes to ‘Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”’ in Edgar Poe’s ‘The Raven’
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USA, 1909—first with grammatical subject ‘life’, meaning ‘life consists of a succession of unpleasant or unlucky events’—then with other grammatical subjects
Read Moredon’t be so niggardly with your money—USA, 1935—the image is of moths that are living in a purse or wallet because it is not frequently opened
Read MoreUK, 1945—with allusion to the former price of admission to public lavatories: to use a public convenience—by extension: to urinate
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word histories 