‘not to be able to [verb] for toffee’: meaning and origin
UK, 1886—to be incompetent at performing the action denoted by the verb—the underlying notion is presumably of failing to win even the smallest prize
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‘Dutching’: meaning and origin
UK, 1989—the practice of sending food destined for the British market for irradiation in a country, typically the Netherlands, where this process is permitted, in order to mask any bacterial contamination before it is put on sale—from ‘Dutch’ and the suffix ‘-ing’, forming nouns denoting an action
Read More‘spud-bashing’: meanings and origin
UK, WWII, army slang—‘spud-bashing’ (noun): potato-peeling; ‘spud-bash’ (verb): to peel potatoes; ‘spud-basher’ (noun): one who peels potatoes—those words have also been used with reference to potato-digging
Read More‘spud-barber’: meaning and origin
jocular—denotes ‘one who peels potatoes’—also used as a verb meaning ‘to peel potatoes’—1915, USA—other early occurrences, Australia
Read More‘Spam medal’: meaning and origin
military slang, 1944—a medal awarded to all members of a force—especially the 1939-1945 Star, awarded to British service personnel who took part in WWII—refers to the ubiquitousness of Spam as a foodstuff
Read More‘croque-madame’: meanings and origin
1932—coined after ‘croque-monsieur’—a toasted or fried sandwich filled with ham and cheese and topped with a poached or fried egg—but originally denoted any of various types of toasted or fried sandwich
Read More‘coronation chicken’: meanings and origin
a dish of cold cooked chicken served in a mild creamy curry sauce—so named because created for a lunch held to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953, at which it was called ‘Poulet Reine Elizabeth’—also USA, April 1953: a dish created when the Poultry and Egg National Board organised Coronation Chicken Day
Read More‘cookie pusher’: meanings and origin
1922, slang of high-school and university students in Kansas City (Missouri) and in Kansas: a fashionable young man who enjoys socialising with women at tea parties or other social events—1924: a diplomat employed by the U.S. State Department, regarded as being excessively occupied with entertaining dignitaries and doing little meaningful work
Read More‘to eat the calf in the cow’s belly’
early 18th century—‘to anticipate unduly’, in particular, ‘to spend one’s revenue before it comes in’
Read More‘freedom fries’: meaning and origin
USA, 2003—Following France’s opposition to the proposed U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the expression ‘freedom fries’ was substituted for ‘French fries’. This, and other expressions in which ‘freedom’ was substituted for ‘French’, may have been coined almost simultaneously by various persons, independently from each other.
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