‘Jimmy Woodser’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1876—a person drinking alone at a bar; a drink taken alone—origin unknown—perhaps related to ‘Johnny Warder’, denoting “an idle drunkard who hangs about pub corners looking for a drink”
Read MoreAustralia, 1876—a person drinking alone at a bar; a drink taken alone—origin unknown—perhaps related to ‘Johnny Warder’, denoting “an idle drunkard who hangs about pub corners looking for a drink”
Read More(baseball) a good fielder, but a poor hitter, i.e., batter—USA, 1925—purportedly coined in 1924 by Miguel Gonzales to describe Moe Berg in a telegram to Mike Kelley
Read Moreused in 1939 by Leo Rosten about U.S. actor W. C. Fields—has been wrongly attributed to the latter—but first used by U.S. journalist Byron Darnton, according to an article of 1937
Read Morewriting is more effective than military power or violence—UK, 1832—often erroneously ascribed to E. Bulwer-Lytton in ‘Richelieu; or, The Conspiracy’ (1839)
Read Moresatirical of British insularity (describes Continental Europe as being cut off from the British Isles)—UK 1930, USA 1931—allegedly originated in a newspaper headline, but this is probably apocryphal
Read MoreI’m tired of life (but intended serio-ironically, not in genuine despair)—USA 1951, UK 1956—popularised by ‘Stop the World—I Want to Get Off’, a 1961 British musical
Read MoreUK—applied to dark clouds looming—originally (1927) ‘over Will’s mother’s’ denoted the west—origin unknown
Read Morenonsensical question and answer—UK 1892—USA 1893—the question has been used to treat someone or something as unworthy of serious consideration
Read MoreUK, 1884—often erroneously attributed to philosopher Herbert Spencer, who said he only repeated an assertion made by a friend of his, Charles Roupell
Read MoreUSA, 1902—jocularly used to justify the necessity of taking another alcoholic drink—Irish variant (1947): ‘a bird never flew on one wing’
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