‘flat out like a lizard drinking’: meanings and origin
Australia, 1930—a humorous extended form of ‘flat out’, meaning ‘with the maximum speed or effort’—apparently with wordplay on ‘flat out’, meaning ‘lying stretched out’
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‘a rat with a gold tooth’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1972—a person, usually a man, who, in spite of a superficial smartness, is untrustworthy—‘rat’ refers to a deceitful or disloyal man—the image is that, despite the gold tooth, a rat’s basic nature cannot change
Read More‘the ant’s pants’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1928—an outstandingly good person or thing—variant of the synonymous jocular expressions, of U.S. origin, based on various parts of animals’ real or fanciful anatomy and other attributes, such as ‘the bee’s knees’ and ‘the cat’s whiskers’
Read More‘not to know whether one is Arthur or Martha’
Australia, 1941—to be in a state of confusion—has come to be also used with reference to sexual orientation or gender identity
Read More‘to treat with ignore’: meaning and early occurrences
Australia, 1935—meaning: ‘to deliberately ignore someone’s presence, request, etc.’—has erroneously been said to have originated in army slang during the Second World War
Read More‘an egg yesterday and a feather-duster tomorrow’
USA 1907—used of the inanity of life and of the transitoriness of success—originated in the captions to a cartoon known as ‘The Dejected Rooster’, by Mark Fenderson, published by the weekly magazine Life (New York City) in 1907
Read More‘(as) cold as Pharaoh’s heart’: meaning and origin
USA, 1876—‘extremely cold’—cf. ‘as hard as Pharaoh’s heart’ (USA, 1829), meaning ‘extremely hard’—both phrases refer to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the Book of Exodus, 7:13-22
Read More‘a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down’: meanings and origin
Australia, 1965—a panacea; a source of comfort; also indicates the need for a rest to settle down—originated in ‘A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down’ (1965), a satiric revue by John McKellar—‘Bex’ was a proprietary name for a type of analgesic
Read More‘the first cab off the rank’: meanings and origin
Australia, 1952—the first in line; the first in a series of people or things to arrive or appear; the first to take advantage of an opportunity—refers to cab ranks (i.e., designated areas where taxicabs line up to wait for business), which operate on a first come, first served system
Read More‘hellzapoppin’’: meaning and origin
USA, 1896—one-word form representing a colloquial pronunciation of the phrase ‘hell’s a poppin’’ (1875)—meaning: ‘events are unfolding in a chaotic manner’; ‘a state of confusion and disarray is taking hold’—the verb ‘pop’ means ‘to suddenly break open’
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