‘ginger group’: meaning and origin
a group within a political party or other organisation, which presses for stronger or more radical policy or action—UK, 1916—the image is of providing ‘ginger’ (i.e., vigour) in a party or organisation
Read MoreTag: John Arbuthnot Fisher
The exclamation ‘OMG’ was coined in 1917.
The exclamation OMG expresses astonishment, excitement, embarrassment, etc. It is from the initial letters of oh my God (the final element may sometimes represent gosh or goodness). This initialism is older than the Internet or even the Usenet (an early computer network established in 1980), since it is first found in a letter that the […]
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘Buggin’s turn’
Buggins’ turn, or Buggins’s turn, is the principle of assigning an appointment to persons in rotation rather than according to merit. The earliest recorded use of this expression is in a letter written on 13th January 1901 by the British admiral Lord John Arbuthnot Fisher (1841-1920): Favouritism was the secret of our efficiency in the […]
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