How ‘Grub Street’ came to refer to hack work.
From the 17th century onwards, Grub Street, in Moorgate, London, was inhabited by literary hacks.
Read MoreTag: eponyms
folk-etymological origin of ‘squirrel’
Greek ‘skíouros’, ultimate origin of ‘squirrel’: folk-etymologically interpreted as meaning ‘shadow-tailed’ because when the animal sits erect, it raises its tail up against its back and over its head as if to shade itself
Read Morethe Cantabrigian origin of ‘wooden spoon’
originally, at Cambridge University: oversized wooden spoon given to the candidate coming last in the mathematical tripos (BA-degree final honours examination)
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Morton’s fork’
an argument said to have been used by John Morton in levying forced loans: a person living well was obviously rich; one living frugally must have savings
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Mrs Grundy’
from Speed the Plough (1798), by Thomas Morton; Dame Ashfield is constantly fearing to give occasion for the sneers of Mrs Grundy, her unseen neighbour
Read Morethe legendary origin of ‘a Roland for an Oliver’
meaning: ‘tit for tat’—Oliver was a full match for his comrade Roland, the legendary nephew of Charlemagne in ‘La Chanson de Roland’ and other romances
Read Morethe origin of ‘Kilroy’?
Sgt Francis J. Kilroy’s surname, first written in 1943 by his friend Sgt James Maloney (source: Army Public Relations, in the Tucson Daily Citizen, 8 Nov. 1945)
Read Moreearly instances of ‘Kilroy’
first recorded at Kearns air force base and Salt Lake City, both in Utah, in June and July 1945; originally seen merely as an amusing legend
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Paul Pry’
UK, 1826—from the eponymous character played by John Liston in a comedy by John Poole, which premiered at the Haymarket Theatre, London, on 13th September 1825
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘nosey parker’
UK, late 19th century—apparently with reference to a probably fictitious individual named Parker, taken as the type of someone inquisitive
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