‘God help those who are caught helping themselves’
addition to proverb ‘God helps those who help themselves’—USA, UK and Australia, late 19th century—originated as a warning to shoplifters
Read Moreaddition to proverb ‘God helps those who help themselves’—USA, UK and Australia, late 19th century—originated as a warning to shoplifters
Read More1955—originated in stage plays purporting to depict life in northern England, particularly in Lancashire—‘mill’: a factory
Read More1941—expresses exasperation or derision at a clumsy, erratic or idiotic person—popularised by Jimmy Clitheroe in his radio programme The Clitheroe Kid (1958-72)
Read MoreUK, 1959—having every desirable feature possible—from ‘all-singing, all-dancing’ as used in the billing given to film or stage musical productions
Read Morethe origin of some famous catchphrases used in 19th-century advertising campaigns
Read MoreUK, 1957—an expression of encouragement, but often used ironically with the opposite meaning—origin unclear
Read More1971—any of the Protestant street gangs of young men in Northern Ireland—from their traditional support of Glasgow Rangers Football Club
Read MoreEngland, 1971—(informal, humorous) the fans of the Scottish football team, considered as a group
Read More1969—a weak, cowardly or oversensitive man—analogy between a cowardly man “in a flap” and an oversize garment hanging loose, fluttering
Read Morethe city or university of Oxford; the sheltered condition of unworldly academics—from the poem ‘Thyrsis’ (1866), by Matthew Arnold
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