‘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 MoreTag: Lancashire
a British phrase: ‘(there’s) trouble at t’mill’
1955—originated in stage plays purporting to depict life in northern England, particularly in Lancashire—‘mill’: a factory
Read Morenotes on the British phrase ‘some mothers do have ’em’
1941—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 Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘all-singing, all-dancing’
UK, 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 birth of some 19th-century advertising catchphrases
the origin of some famous catchphrases used in 19th-century advertising campaigns
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘(and) the best of British luck’
UK, 1957—an expression of encouragement, but often used ironically with the opposite meaning—origin unclear
Read Moremeaning and origin of the Northern-Irish term ‘Tartan gang’
1971—any of the Protestant street gangs of young men in Northern Ireland—from their traditional support of Glasgow Rangers Football Club
Read Moremeaning and origin of the football term ‘Tartan army’
England, 1971—(informal, humorous) the fans of the Scottish football team, considered as a group
Read Moremeaning and origin of the British phrase ‘big girl’s blouse’
1969—a weak, cowardly or oversensitive man—analogy between a cowardly man “in a flap” and an oversize garment hanging loose, fluttering
Read Moreorigin and meanings of ‘dreaming spires’
the city or university of Oxford; the sheltered condition of unworldly academics—from the poem ‘Thyrsis’ (1866), by Matthew Arnold
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