origin of ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’
UK, 1892—postdates by several years variants such as ‘eat an apple on going to bed, and you will keep the doctor from earning his bread’
Read MoreTag: human body
meaning and origin of the British phrase ‘the acceptable face of ——’
1973—from ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism’, used by Prime Minister Edward Heath during a debate at the House of Commons on 15 May 1973
Read Morethe sexual meanings of ‘crumpet’ in British English
women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire; sexual intercourse—first recorded in ‘The Gilt Kid’ (1936), by James Curtis (Geoffrey Basil Maiden)
Read Morethe cultural background to the phrase ‘to shop till one drops’
USA, 1904—from the image of shopping until one is physically exhausted and unable to continue—alludes to the consumerist avidity prompted by department stores
Read More‘over a barrel’: meaning, early instances and probable origin
USA, 1890—at someone’s mercy—probably alludes to the practice of binding a person over an overturned barrel in order to beat them
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British phrase ‘a racing dog’s bollocks’
UK, 1988—used in similes to denote something that protrudes—originated in British military slang
Read Morethe history of ‘dog’s breakfast’ and ‘dog’s dinner’
UK—a confused mess—alludes to the jumbled nature of a dog’s meal—‘like a dog’s dinner’: over-elaborately or ostentatiously dressed
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Procrustean bed/Procrustean remedy’
a means of enforcing conformity—Greek mythology: Procrustes was a robber who made his victims fit a bed by either stretching them longer or cutting them shorter
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to go commando’
USA, 1974—to wear no underpants—originated in university slang—perhaps because commandos wear no underpants in order to prevent crotch rot and rashes
Read Morea hypothesis as to the origin of ‘to get down to brass tacks’
USA, 1868—‘brass tacks’: the nails studded over a coffin, hence figuratively the end of any possibility of deceit, the return to essentials
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