“ad fontes!”
UK, 1877—an onion-seller from Brittany who sold onions door-to-door around the coasts of Britain—used with modifying word, ‘Johnny’ designates a person of the type, profession, etc., specified
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Australia, 1914—the straight-arm fend-off—from advertisements for J. C. Hutton Pty Ltd, depicting a man putting a hand in another man’s face and saying “Don’t argue—Hutton’s bacon is the best”
Read MoreUSA, 1876: from beginning to end, completely, exhaustively—literal meaning, 1852: all the successive parts of a meal, from soup at the beginning to nuts at the end
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UK, 1823 as ‘calf’s head is best hot’, defined by John Badcock as “the apology for one of those who made no bones of dining with his topper on” in Slang. A Dictionary of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, the Pit, of Bon-ton, and the Varieties of Life
Read MoreUK, 1898—Australia, 1913—used when, while addressing someone, the speaker is interrupted by someone else—in particular when the person who interrupts is a subordinate of the person whom the speaker addresses
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alludes to the menus in Chinese restaurants, which list the dishes in two columns, column A and column B—USA, 1956—first in reference to comedian Buddy Hackett’s routine on a Chinese waiter taking an order
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addition to proverb ‘God helps those who help themselves’—USA, UK and Australia, late 19th century—originated as a warning to shoplifters
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UK, 1879—meanings: an undisciplined assault on food and drink, and, by extension, any disorderly but excited scene
Read More1928—addressed to someone who looks glum—‘scone’ (originally Scots, early 16th century) denotes a light plain doughy cake
Read Moresaid to console a child choking over his or her food—UK, obsolete—first recorded in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation (1738), by Jonathan Swift
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