‘buttered bread’ in phrases denoting fortunate situations
The image of one’s bread getting or being buttered has long been used to denote getting or having benefits, advantages.
Read MoreTag: food
origin of the phrase ‘the best thing since sliced bread’
After ready-sliced bread was introduced, improvements in the baking industry were assessed by comparison with it—hence the figurative use of ‘since sliced bread’
Read MoreHow ‘breadline’ originated in the action of a philanthropist.
originally (late 19th century) the queue of needy men waiting to be given bread outside Fleischmann’s Vienna Model Bakery, Broadway, New York City
Read More‘trickle-down theory’ and ‘crumbs from a rich man’s table’
‘crumbs from a rich man’s table’—late 18th century—from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in the gospel of Luke, 16:19-31
Read More‘(just) what the doctor ordered’ (exactly what is needed)
‘(just) what the doctor ordered’: very beneficial or desirable under the circumstances—origin: USA, second half of the 19th century
Read Moreorigin of ‘begging bowl’ (appeal for financial help)
used in reference to a grovelling or obsequious appeal for financial help (1903)—originally a bowl carried by a Buddhist monk to receive food (1878)
Read Moreorigin of ‘Bananaland’, colloquial Australian name for Queensland
Australia, 1880—from the fact that bananas grow in abundance in Queensland (a state comprising the north-eastern part of Australia)
Read More‘banana republic’: meaning and origin
a Latin-American country that is politically unstable because its economy, controlled by U.S. capital, wholly depends on the export of bananas
Read More‘to go bald-headed’ (to rush without care or caution)
first recorded in The Biglow Papers (1848), by American author James Russell Lowell—based on the notion of leaving one’s hat behind in a rush of impetuosity
Read MoreHow a telegram popularised ‘to bring home the bacon’.
USA, 1906—popularised by a telegram sent to boxer Joe Gans by his mother, requesting him before a fight to win and ‘bring home the bacon’
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word histories 