‘Joe Soap’: meanings and history
UK—originated in British-Army slang, first to designate an unintelligent person (1943), then any ordinary soldier of the lowest ranks (1945)—finally also, in civilian usage: any ordinary person (1947)
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‘one may as well have the game as the name’
American English, 1823—meaning: if one is falsely reputed to act in a specific manner, then one may as well act in that manner
Read More‘(fingernails) in mourning for the cat’: meaning and early occurrences
dirty fingernails—1906—British and Irish English—but the comparison between the dirt edging the fingernails and the black border edging mourning paper dates back to the 19th century
Read More‘stand and grow good’: meanings and origin
UK, 1862—originally said to children in order that they develop an upright posture—came to be humorously used when declining a proffered seat
Read More‘to charge like the Light Brigade’: origin and various meanings
alludes to a British cavalry charge in 1854 during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War—the phrase has had a variety of meanings, depending on the acceptation in which ‘charge’ has been used
Read More‘Coggeshall job’: meaning and origin
any muddle-headed business—UK, 1813—the stupidity of the people of Coggeshall, a small town in Essex, England, has been proverbial since the mid-17th century
Read Morea male-chauvinistic phrase: ‘barefoot(ed) and pregnant’
USA, 1938—male-chauvinistic phrase meaning that the place of women is in the home and that their role is to bear children—also ‘pregnant and barefoot(ed)’
Read More‘home, James (and don’t spare the horses)’: meaning and early occurrences
used as a humorous exhortation to a driver (‘James’: generic posh Christian name)—USA—shorter form: late 19th century—extended form: 1911
Read More‘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
Read Morehistory 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
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