meaning and origin of the phrase ‘to dodge the column’
to avoid work, to shirk one’s duty—originated in military slang during the First World War, the word ‘column’ denoting a formation of marching soldiers
Read MoreTag: military
the American-English origin of the phrase ‘like greased lightning’
denotes extreme quickness of movement—the use of ‘greased’ likens lightning to a machine that a mechanic has lubricated in order to minimise the friction and make it run easily
Read More‘a legend in one’s lifetime’ – ‘a legend in one’s lunchtime’
UK—‘a legend in your lifetime’ (1913): allegedly said by Benjamin Jowett to Florence Nightingale—‘a legend in his own lunchtime’ (1969): first recorded in a theatrical review by John Cunningham
Read More18th-century instances of ‘Indian summer’
18th-century instances of ‘Indian summer’ in addition to the earliest one—including a 1791 figurative use of the term
Read Morethe American-English phrase ‘you and whose army?’
USA, 1929—‘you and whose army?’, or ‘you and what army?’: used to question a person’s ability to carry out a threat or challenge unaided
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘(as) American as apple pie’
USA, 1920—‘(as) American as apple pie’: typically American in character—‘apple pie’ being here a symbol of American motherhood and traditional family values
Read Morethe Communist origin of ‘to vote with one’s feet’
UK, 1934—image said to have been first used by Lenin about the Russian soldiers who were abandoning the war during the Russian Revolution of 1917
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘red in tooth and claw’
UK, 1857—characterised by savage violence or merciless competition—from Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘In Memoriam’ (1850), in which ‘red in tooth and claw’ refers to Nature’s brutality
Read MoreHow poverty and war produced ‘latchkey child’.
originally: a child wearing the house key tied around their neck and staying in the streets while their mother is at work—USA, 1935: a poor Afro-American woman’s child—USA & UK, WWII: a child whose mother was engaged in war industry
Read More‘gung ho’ and American admiration for communist China
from Chinese ‘gōnghé’, short for ‘Zhōngguó Gōngyè Hézuò Shè’ (Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society)—interpreted as a slogan meaning ‘work together’ (USA, 1941)—adopted by Evans F. Carlson, commander of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion (1942)
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