‘to tap the Admiral’: meaning and early occurrences
applied to someone who will drink anything—UK, 1790—from the tale of the sailor(s) who stole spirits from the cask in which a dead Admiral was being preserved for interment in England
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history of the acronym ‘ACAB’
1970—British and Irish English—acronym from the phrase ‘all coppers are bastards’—customarily written (tattooed in particular) rather than spoken
Read Morethe ‘Apaches’ of Paris: meaning and origin
circa 1900: by association with the reputed ferocity of the North-American Indian people, ‘Apache’ came to designate a violent street ruffian in Paris
Read More‘you’ll be smoking next’: meaning and early occurrences
used to rebuke someone, especially, jocularly, for an act far more improper or audacious than mere tobacco-smoking—USA, 1889
Read More‘accidents will happen in the best-regulated families’
UK, 1808—elaboration on ‘accidents will happen’, meaning accidents will happen despite efforts taken to prevent them
Read More‘girls are like streetcars, or buses’: meaning and history
USA, 1900—followed by ‘there’ll be another one right along’ and variants, means ‘there will be many more romantic opportunities in the future’
Read Morethe birth of ‘little old ladies in tennis shoes’
USA, 1961—coined by Howard Jewel, Assistant Attorney General, Sacramento, California, as a description of female members of the John Birch Society
Read Morenotes on ‘see you later, agitator’
USA, 1956—jocular variant of equally jocular ‘see you later, alligator’ (1952)—recoined on separate occasions by various persons, independently from one another
Read More‘who says romance is dead?’: meaning and early occurrences
used ironically of something regarded as prosaic or even thoroughly vulgar—USA, 1869—‘romance’: romantic love idealised for its purity or beauty
Read More‘Flypaper Act’ | ‘to be under, or on, the flypaper’
UK slang, 1906—‘Flypaper Act’: the Prevention of Crimes Act—‘to be under, or on, the flypaper’: to be subject to the Prevention of Crimes Act
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word histories 