‘to shoot oneself in the foot’: meaning and origin
USA, 1951—to act in a way that inadvertently damages one’s cause or reputation or spoils one’s chances—alludes to accidental shooting
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‘gallows-humour’: meaning and origin
grim and ironical humour—UK, 1860, in reference to the practice of public executions—UK, 1870, as a loan translation from German ‘Galgenhumor’, in the context of the Franco-Prussian War
Read More‘to get a guernsey’: meanings and origin
Australia, 1918—to get selected for a task, to gain recognition or approval, to succeed—the image is of getting selected in a sporting team (‘guernsey’: a shirt worn by soccer or rugby players)
Read More‘kiwi’ (air-force slang): meaning and origin
First World War—a non-flying member of an air force—in reference to the flightless bird of New Zealand
Read More‘zambuck’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1906; New Zealand, 1918—a medic, paramedic or first-aid worker, especially when in attendance at a sporting event—from the proprietary name of a popular brand of antiseptic ointment
Read More‘drop bear’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1967—a mythical creature, similar in appearance to a koala, that drops from trees to kill and eat prey, including humans
Read More‘on the wrong tram’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1929—mistaken, astray, following the wrong tactics
Read More‘cut-lunch commando’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1943, derogatory—a soldier who does not see active service, especially a reservist—from ‘cut lunch’, denoting a packed lunch, typically consisting of sandwiches
Read More‘to be packed like sardines’: meaning and origin
UK, 1841—to be crowded or confined tightly together, as sardines in a tin
Read More‘scholasticide’: meaning and origin
the systematic destruction of Palestinian education by Israel—apparently coined in 2009 by Karma Nabulsi, Fellow in Politics at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
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