‘Generals January and February’: meaning and origin

20th Aug 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

personify January and February as army commanders, especially in reference to winter as detrimental or destructive to a military campaign—apparently coined by Russian Prince Alexander Menshikov in 1855, during the Crimean War

‘bullycide’: meaning and origin

28th Jul 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

suicide committed by a person, especially a child or young adult, as a result of being bullied—blend of the nouns ‘bully’ and ‘suicide’—coined since 2001 on separate occasions by various persons, independently from one another

the noun ‘dunny’ in Australian phrases

26th Jul 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

The noun ‘dunny’ denotes a toilet, especially an outside toilet. This noun has been used in various phrases expressing notions such as conspicuousness, loneliness, ill luck, etc.

‘you’re so sharp you’ll cut yourself’: meaning and early occurrences

21st Jul 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

UK, 1866—used as an observation, a reproof or a warning implying over-cleverness—plays on two meanings of the adjective ‘sharp’: a) literal meaning: ‘cutting’; b) figurative meaning: ‘keen-witted’

‘Pharaoh’s Revenge’: meaning and origin

19th Jul 2022.Reading time 9 minutes.

diarrhoea suffered by travellers, especially in Egypt—USA, 1973—does not seem to have been coined after the synonymous ‘Montezuma’s Revenge’—may somehow allude to the legendary curse of the pharaohs

‘to shoot the cat’: meaning (and origin?)

17th Jul 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

to vomit, especially from drunkenness—slang, obsolete—1609 as ‘to jerk the cat’—perhaps alludes to the fact that cats are prone to vomit—cf. also the obsolete French verb ‘renarder’, to vomit, from the noun ‘renard’, denoting a fox

‘granny-bashing’ | ‘granny-battering’: meanings and origin

16th Jul 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

UK, 1972—the nouns ‘granny-bashing’ and ‘granny-battering’ denote: a) the assault or mugging of elderly persons; b) abuse of an elderly member of one’s family, especially one’s grandmother

Australian terms referring to left-handedness

9th Jul 2022.Reading time 15 minutes.

left-handed: ‘molly-handed’, ‘mauldy’, ‘molly-dooked’—a left-handed person: ‘molly-hander’, ‘mauldy’, ‘molly-dook’—‘molly’ and ‘mauldy’ may derive from ‘mauley’, denoting the hand or fist; ‘dook’ is ‘duke’, denoting the hand or fist

‘to sweat the small stuff’: meaning and origin

8th Jul 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

USA, 1957, teenagers’ slang—to worry about trivial, insignificant matters—usually as ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’, said as reproof or consolation

‘oojah’: meanings (and origin?)

27th Jun 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

UK, 1917—used when one cannot think of, or does not wish to use, the name of a thing; by extension, a useful implement, a gadget—origin unknown

word histories

Tag: human body