‘it’s no bread and butter of mine’: meaning and early occurrences

26th Apr 2021.Reading time 12 minutes.

1687—used in negative and interrogative constructions, ‘bread and butter’ denotes a matter which one has the right to express an opinion on, involve oneself in, etc.

‘heads I win (and) tails you lose’ | ‘cross I win (and) pile you lose’

24th Apr 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

‘cross I win (and) pile you lose’ (1673)—‘heads I win (and) tails you lose’ (1728)—meaning: ‘I win whatever happens’—with reference to the practice of tossing a coin to determine a winner or to make a decision

‘pumpkinification’: meanings and origin

13th Apr 2021.Reading time 18 minutes.

UK, 1849—transformation into a pumpkin; extravagant or absurdly uncritical glorification—coined after Hellenistic Greek ‘ἀποκολοκύντωσις’, the title of a travesty ascribed to Seneca, according to which the deceased Roman emperor Claudius, instead of being elevated to divine status, is changed into a pumpkin

‘in a cleft stick’: meaning and origin

10th Mar 2021.Reading time 13 minutes.

UK, 1710—in a situation in which any action one takes will have adverse consequences—‘cleft’, past participle of the verb ‘cleave’, means ‘split in two to a certain depth’—the image is of one being squeezed between the stick’s prongs

‘is your father a glazier?’: meaning and early occurrences

21st Aug 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK, 18th century—addressed to one who stands between the speaker and the light of a window, a lamp, a candle or a fire, or, more generally, to one who obstructs the speaker’s view

a Pepysian phrase: ‘and so to bed’

19th Jul 2020.Reading time 14 minutes.

phrase popularised by its frequent use in the diary (1659-69) of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)—not peculiar to him, however, as it was used for example by Philip Massinger in 1624

‘coming? so is Christmas!’: meanings and history

15th Jul 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK, early 18th century—addressed to one who, saying ‘coming!’ (i.e., ‘in a minute’), takes a long time to arrive—used by extension of anything that is being delayed

notes on ‘choke, chicken: more are hatching’

16th Jun 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

said to console a child choking over his or her food—UK, obsolete—first recorded in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation (1738), by Jonathan Swift