“ad fontes!”
19th century—refer to two handkerchiefs, one used as a clothing accessory, the other for blowing the nose—hence, figuratively ‘for display rather than for use’ and ‘one for display and one for use’
Read MoreSince the mid-20th century, with reference to garden tea parties, the phrase ‘cucumber sandwiches on the lawn’ and its variants have been used to characterise traditional Englishness.
Read More
1966—With punning allusion to the high cost of living in that affluent harbourside suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Double Bay is colloquially referred to as ‘Double Pay’.
Read MoreUK 1945: ‘as lucky as the pox doctor’s clerk’: very lucky—UK 1954, ‘to look like a pox doctor’s clerk’, Australia 1957, ‘done up like a pox doctor’s clerk’: dressed nattily but in bad taste
Read More
USA, 1938: painted by teenagers on the dilapidated old cars they drove—Australia, 1948: painted on cars, too, but, apparently, not specifically by teenagers—later, on bumper stickers
Read More1951—with pun on the noun ‘camp’ (i.e.: encampment): extremely camp (i.e.: ostentatiously and extravagantly effeminate; deliberately exaggerated and theatrical in style)
Read More
one must wear a hat in order to become successful in one’s life or career—originally the slogan for an advertising campaign organised in 1948 by the British hat-manufacturers when hat-wearing began to decline
Read More
used upon parting, and often jocularly, this phrase means ‘behave yourself’—USA, 1911—had become hackneyed by 1918
Read More
a jibe at a man wearing trousers with turn-ups—USA, 1885—from an anecdote about a man who was affecting the manners and eccentricities of upper-class English people
Read More
the only person or thing to be considered in a particular situation—USA, 1895—popularised by 1896 song ‘You’re Not the Only Pebble on the Beach’
Read More
word histories 