the 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 MoreTag: fashion
the 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’
Read Morerefutation of received ideas on the origin of ‘bikini’
not originally coined because of the connotation of explosiveness, but because of the connotations of pleasure, beauty and tininess
Read Morethe acronym ‘Wags’ and its derivative ‘Gwags’
‘WAGs’ (1987): the wives and girlfriends of the players of the Scottish football team Dundee United F.C.—‘Gwags’ (2006): golfers’ wives and girlfriends
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘nothing to write home about’
USA, 1905—unremarkable or mediocre—based on the image of something that is worth writing to one’s friends or family at home about
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘belt and braces’–‘belt and suspenders’
UK, 1948—USA, 1952—from the image of the over-cautious man who wears both a belt and braces/suspenders to hold up his trousers
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘plain Jane’
UK, 1898, in ‘plain Jane and no nonsense’—a dull or unattractive girl or woman—‘Jane’ chosen because it is common and rhymes with ‘plain’
Read Morethe cinematographic origin of the phrase ‘off the cuff’ (spontaneously)
USA, 1928—originally referred to scenario improvising during the silent-film era—the image is of notes written on a shirt-cuff
Read Morethe story of ‘John Lennon spectacles’
USA, 1967—metal-framed spectacles with small, round lenses—worn and popularised by the English singer, musician and songwriter John Lennon (1940-80)
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