‘elbow grease’ | ‘huile de coude’

16th Jul 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

The humorous expression ‘elbow grease’ (1639) denotes vigorous physical labour, especially hard rubbing. The corresponding French expression is ‘huile de coude’ (1761), literally ‘elbow oil’.

‘boustrophedon’: meaning and origin

18th May 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

1762—(especially of an ancient style of writing): having alternate lines written from left to right and from right to left—from the Greek adverb ‘βουστροφηδόν’, meaning literally ‘as an ox turns (in ploughing)’, with allusion to the course of the plough in successive furrows

‘mare nostrum’: meanings and origin

10th May 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

classical Latin ‘mare nostrum’, literally ‘our sea’: one of the names given by the Romans to the Mediterranean Sea—USA, 1824: any sea or other stretch of water belonging to, or under the control of, a nation

‘that way madness lies’: meaning and origin

23rd Apr 2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

UK, 1811—a proposed course of action is bound to lead to disaster—quotation from King Lear, a tragedy by William Shakespeare

history of ‘piece of work’ (unpleasant person)

14th Apr 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

literal meaning, 1473: something produced or manufactured—1534: an arduous task—1810: a commotion, a fuss—1623: ‘a filthy piece of work’ is applied to a person in Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens

‘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

‘conspicuous by one’s/its absence’: meaning and origin

3rd Feb 2021.Reading time 10 minutes.

UK, 1847—obviously not present where one/it should be—popularised in 1859 by the British statesman John Russell—alludes to the Annals, Book III, 76, by the Roman historian Tacitus

notes on the phrase ‘lorem ipsum’

26th Jan 2021.Reading time 13 minutes.

a sample text beginning with ‘lorem ipsum’, based on jumbled elements from Cicero’s De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum—‘lorem ipsum’: arbitrary clipping of the first syllable of ‘dolorem ipsum’ in Cicero’s text

‘(as) right as a trivet’: meaning and origin

15th Jan 2021.Reading time 9 minutes.

UK, 1824—thoroughly or perfectly right—‘trivet’: a metal tripod for a cooking pot or kettle to stand on—the phrase refers to a trivet’s always standing firm on its three feet

‘in clover’: meaning and origin of this phrase

15th Oct 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

UK, 1710—in ease and luxury—refers to the use of clover as fodder, as explained by Samuel Johnson in A Dictionary of the English Language (1755): “To live in Clover, is to live luxuriously; clover being extremely delicious and fattening to cattle.”