some early figurative uses of ‘Möbius strip’
US 1960—person of whom only one aspect is known; continual phenomenon—from the one-sided continuous surface formed by joining the ends of a half-twisted strip
Read MoreTag: eponyms
meaning and origin of the term ‘(Dr.) Kevorkian’
USA, 1990s—purveyor of doom, especially agent of death, force of suicide—refers to Jack Kevorkian (1928-2011), U.S. physician and advocate of assisted suicide
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Comstockism’ and ‘Comstockery’
USA—‘Comstockism’ 1878, ‘Comstockery’ 1889—strict censorship of materials considered obscene—after anti-vice activist Anthony Comstock (1844-1915)
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British term ‘(Colonel) Blimp’
1934—pompous, reactionary type of person—from the cartoon character (a pompous retired British army officer voicing a hatred of new ideas) created by David Low
Read Moremeaning and origin of the common noun ‘Debbie Downer’
USA 2005—a pessimistic or negative person—popularised, if not introduced, by the character of Debbie Downer in the U.S. television variety series Saturday Night Live
Read Moresome reflections on ‘to Wyatt’
UK 2006—to play recherché music on a jukebox with the intent of irritating pub customers—attributed to Carl Neville in reference to Robert Wyatt’s ‘Dondestan’
Read Moremeaning and origin of the term ‘Streisand effect’
USA, 2005—coined by Mike Masnick on Techdirt.com—refers to Barbra Streisand’s counterproductive attempt in 2003 to ban a photo of her house
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British phrase ‘to give it some welly’
to put more effort in it—1976 with reference to putting one’s foot down on the accelerator pedal in a motor vehicle
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British phrase ‘sitting by Nellie’
1956—learning a job by observing how an experienced worker does it—‘Nellie’ is simply a generic name for a trained worker.
Read MoreWhy ‘gerrymander’ was originally the name of a monstrous salamander.
the drawing of the ‘Gerry-mander’ and the accompanying text—as published in the Boston Gazette (Boston, Massachusetts) of 26 March 1812
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word histories 