the history of ‘burnsides’, ‘sideburns’ and ‘sideboards’

29th March 2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

After Ambrose Burnside, Union general in the U.S. Civil War, ‘burnsides’ (1866) denotes thick side whiskers worn with a moustache and clean-shaven chin; on the pattern of ‘side whiskers’, it was altered to ‘sideburns’ (1875), itself altered to ‘sideboards’ (1882).

A dunce was originally a follower of John Duns Scotus.

24th February 2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

‘dunce’: originally a follower of John Duns Scotus (circa 1265-1308), scholastic theologian; in the 16th century, Scotus’s system was attacked with ridicule by the humanists and the reformers as a farrago of needless entities and useless distinctions

‘slipshod’: ‘wearing loose shoes or slippers’

14th February 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

‘slipshod’: ‘characterised by a lack of care, thought or organisation’—formed after the obsolete noun ‘slip-shoe’ (= ‘a loosely fitting shoe or slipper’); ‘shod’ (meaning ‘wearing shoes’) is the past participle of the verb ‘shoe’

the curious history of ‘Quorn’ (meat substitute)

13th February 2018.Reading time 10 minutes.

The name ‘Quorn’ was first registered as a trademark—for certain edible products other than meat substitutes—by the Quorn Specialities Company of Leicester, England, in 1914. The meat substitute was subsequently developed by the successors of this company.

How ‘tycoon’ acquired its current sense in 1860.

28th January 2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

From Japanese ‘taikun’, ‘tycoon’ was originally the title by which the shogun of Japan was described to foreigners. The current sense originated in the Japanese Embassy to the United States in 1860, not from the use of ‘tycoon’ as a nickname of Abraham Lincoln.

The literal meaning of ‘cappuccino’ is ‘Capuchin’.

1st January 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

USA, 1948—espresso coffee mixed with steamed milk—borrowed from Italian ‘cappuccino’, literally ‘Capuchin’, because the colour of this type of coffee resembles that of a Capuchin’s habit—cf. French ‘capucin’ (= ‘Capuchin’), a name for the hare, from the colour of the animal’s fur

‘See you later, alligator’ originated in U.S. teenagers’ slang.

29th December 2017.Reading time 10 minutes.

The colloquial see you later, alligator, which originated in American English, is a catchphrase used on parting. The expected response is in, or after, a while, crocodile. The earliest instance that I have found is from Teenagers’ Slang Expressions Are Explained by Columnists, by “Jackie and Jane, Star-Bulletin Teen Columnists”, published in the […]

the various uses of ‘out of one’s skull’

21st November 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

USA—‘not part of a particular exclusive group’, 1955—‘out of one’s mind’, 1958—‘smashed out of one’s skull’ (= ‘drunk’, 1963)—‘bored out of one’s skull’, 1967

‘famous for fifteen minutes’

3rd November 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

apparently misattributed to Andy Warhol in the book published for the first European retrospective of his work at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, in 1968

origin of ‘one’s best bib and tucker’

20th October 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

18th century, of women’s clothes—‘bib’: a piece of cloth worn between throat and waist; ‘tucker’: a piece of lace or linen worn in or around the top of a bodice