‘perp walk’: meaning and origin
U.S. slang, 1986—a march into or out of a police car, courthouse, etc., that a person in police custody is made to perform for the benefit of the news media—‘perp’: shortening of ‘perpetrator’
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‘mauvaise langue’: meanings and origin
UK, 1822—a vituperative gossip, a scandalmonger; an evil or malicious tongue—a borrowing from French ‘mauvaise langue’ (literally ‘bad tongue’) of same significations
Read More‘goofy foot’: meaning and origin
one who rides a surfboard with the right foot forward instead of the left—USA, 1960 (as a verb)—here, ‘goofy’ seems to be related to prejudice against left-handedness and left-footedness
Read More‘to walk the plank’: meanings and origin
late 18th century, in the context of piracy: to walk along a plank placed over the side of a ship until one falls into the sea—hence, figuratively, early 19th century: to be forced to resign from one’s office or position
Read More‘Beatle boot’: meaning and origin
UK & Ireland, 1963—a type of ankle boot worn by men, that was popularised by the Beatles
Read More‘O’Grady says’: meaning and origin
a game in which players must obey a leader’s instructions if, but only if, they are prefaced with the words ‘O’Grady says’—UK, 1917—game invented during World War One as a play-way for conducting physical exercises and drill in the British Army
Read MoreAustralian uses of ‘heifer-paddock’
literally (1845): an enclosure in which calves are isolated from their mothers until weaned—figuratively, humorously and offensively (1885): a girls’ boarding-school—similar to the use of ‘cow’ to derogatorily designate a girl or woman
Read More‘to do the block’: meaning and origin
Australia—‘the block’: a street or area in a city or town in which it is fashionable to promenade—‘to do the block’: to promenade in such a street or area—1868, in reference to a section of Collins Street in Melbourne
Read MoreAustralian use of ‘big spit’
1943: the noun ‘big spit’ designates ‘vomiting’—1952: the phrase ‘to go for the big spit’ means ‘to vomit’
Read More‘Marie Celeste’: meanings and origin
is used of a place that is found inexplicably deserted; also of a person’s sudden and inexplicable disappearance—alludes to the Mary Celeste, a U.S. cargo ship which in December 1872 was found mysteriously abandoned in the North Atlantic
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