‘Piccadilly window’: meaning and origin
UK, 1897—‘Piccadilly window’: a monocle—hence ‘Piccadilly-windowed’: monocled—alludes to ‘Piccadilly’, the name of a street and of a circus (i.e., a rounded open space) in London
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19th-century nicknames for London newspapers
The Times: nicknamed Thunderer—the Morning Advertiser: Gin-and-Gospel Gazette, Tap-tub—The Morning Post: Jeames—The Morning Herald and The Standard: respectively Mrs Harris and Mrs Gamp
Read More‘it’s raining in London’: meaning and origin
a jibe at a man wearing trousers with turn-ups—USA, 1885—from an anecdote about a man who was affecting the manners and eccentricities of upper-class English people
Read More‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show (comes the dung-cart)’
UK, 1851—a disappointing end to an otherwise exciting display—refers to the cleaning-up, especially of horse-dung, necessary after the Lord Mayor’s Show, in London
Read More‘busman’s holiday’: meaning and origin
UK, 1888—a holiday spent doing the same sort of thing as one does at work—apparently from the busmen’s habit of spending their days off riding on friends’ buses
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 Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to get one’s wires crossed’
USA, 1878—to misunderstand—alludes to an accidental connexion between telephone or telegraph wires of different lines or circuits
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘wigs on the green’
Ireland, 1820—violent quarrel—refers to the fact that wigs are liable to fall or to be pulled off in a fray
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
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word histories 