“Ad fontes!”
1922—nautical—figuratively, means that different countries (or cities, spheres of activity, etc.) have different customs or practices—‘long splice’: a splice in which the ends of two ropes are interwoven in such a way that the point of joining and the ropes are of equal thickness
Read MoreUK and Ireland—with reference to the fact that Horatio Nelson was blinded in one eye—(1922) ‘until/when Nelson gets his eye back’ is used of a very long time in the future—(1933) the metaphor of Nelson getting his eye back is used of a very small chance of success
Read MoreUSA, 1871—The phrase ‘a whale of a (good) time’ denotes a hugely enjoyable time, and alludes to the enormousness of whales.
Read MoreUK, 1808—to make one’s beliefs or intentions plain—from the former practice of nailing an ensign to the mast of a ship, after damage during battle resulted in the ship’s colours no longer being clearly displayed, which otherwise might have been interpreted as a signal of surrender
Read Moreapplied to someone who will drink anything—UK, 1790—from the tale of the sailor(s) who stole spirits from the cask in which a dead Admiral was being preserved for interment in England
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expresses distrust at air or sea travel—USA, 1926—with a pun on ‘terror’, jocularly decouples from each other the components of ‘terra firma’ (firm land)
Read More1911—‘Damaged Goods’, translation of ‘Les Avariés’, by French dramatist Eugène Brieux, about the dangers of ignorance concerning sexually transmitted diseases
Read MoreUSA, 1926—only a person with a given personality, characteristic, etc., is able to identify that quality in someone else—particularly used of homosexuals
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UK, 1926—completely lost or wasted—seems to allude to ‘Old Folks at Home’ (1851), also known as ‘Swanee River’, by the U.S. songwriter Stephen Foster
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Britain and USA, early 1900s: over-elaborately dressed—since the mid-19th century, ‘like a Christmas tree’: overelaborateness, heterogeneousness, artificiality
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word histories 