‘Charlie’s dead’ (your petticoat is showing)
UK, 1950s—used among schoolgirls when one’s petticoat was showing (origin unknown)—synonyms: ‘it’s snowing again’, ‘you’re showing next week’s washing’
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meaning and early instances of ‘full English breakfast’
UK, 1933—a substantial breakfast including hot cooked foods such as bacon, sausages, eggs and baked beans
Read Moreorigin of ‘first past the post’ (as applied to a voting system)
Australia and New Zealand 1913—alludes to horse racing, in which a horse wins a race by being the first to pass the finishing post
Read Morethe history of ‘dog’s breakfast’ and ‘dog’s dinner’
UK—a confused mess—alludes to the jumbled nature of a dog’s meal—‘like a dog’s dinner’: over-elaborately or ostentatiously dressed
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to go commando’
USA, 1974—to wear no underpants—originated in university slang—perhaps because commandos wear no underpants in order to prevent crotch rot and rashes
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘Dunkirk spirit’
1940 as ‘spirit of Dunkirk’—determination to endure hardship—refers to the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in May/June 1940
Read Morea hypothesis as to the origin of ‘to get down to brass tacks’
USA, 1868—‘brass tacks’: the nails studded over a coffin, hence figuratively the end of any possibility of deceit, the return to essentials
Read Morethe figurative use of ‘bowler (hat)’: civilian life
UK, 1925—symbol of civilian life as opposed to service in the armed forces and of demobilisation or dismissal from the army
Read Morethe cultural background to the term ‘blind date’
USA, 1922—seems to have originated in the slang of the flappers (the young women who showed freedom from conventions) and of their male counterparts
Read Moremeaning (and origin?) of the obsolete noun ‘quoz’
UK, circa 1780—an odd or ridiculous person or thing—synonym – and apparently fanciful variant – of ‘quiz’
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