meaning and origin of the football term ‘Tartan army’
England, 1971—(informal, humorous) the fans of the Scottish football team, considered as a group
Read MoreTag: food
meaning and origin of the phrase ‘like turkeys voting for Christmas’
(of an action or decision) hopelessly self-defeating—UK, 1979, with reference to the Scottish National Party’s decision to vote with the Tories
Read More‘that’s how the cookie crumbles’ and ‘(that’s when) the cookie crumbled’
USA, 1950s—‘that’s how the cookie crumbles’: that’s how it is—‘(that’s when) the cookie crumbled’: (that’s when) a decisive change in a situation occurred
Read Morethe birth of the colourful noun ‘cackleberry’
USA, 1889—humorous, informal: a hen’s egg—composed of ‘cackle’, the raucous clucking cry given by a hen, especially after laying an egg, and of ‘berry’
Read More“Nice one, Cyril!”, or the birth of British catchphrases
a view on the manner in which catchphrases created by comedians and advertising gain currency
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British term ‘Aga saga’
UK, 1992 (coined by Terence Blacker)—a novel depicting the lives and concerns of the British rural middle classes—from the association of Aga cookers with those classes
Read Moremeaning and early instances of the phrase ‘like taking candy from a baby’
USA, 1896—very easy to accomplish, sometimes with an implication of unscrupulousness
Read Moremeanings and origin of ‘flavour of the month/of the week’
UK, 1967—person or thing that enjoys a short period of great popularity—the particular ice-cream flavour promoted during a month/week
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to know how many beans make five’
to be sensible and intelligent—1784 in a US publication, but attributed to “a gentleman from abroad”—‘blue’, meaningless fanciful intensive, sometimes before ‘beans’
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘bread and circuses’
UK, 1869—inaccurate translation of Latin ‘panem and circenses’ (literally ‘bread and circus games’) as used by the Roman poet Juvenal
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