‘Left-Bankish’: meaning and origin
USA, 1936—characteristic or reminiscent of the Left Bank (‘Rive Gauche’ in French), the part of Paris south of the River Seine, noted for its intellectual and artistic life
Read MoreTag: ‘O. O.’ McIntyre
‘back of an envelope’: meaning and origin
USA, 1931—indicates that something has been formulated or devised hurriedly, roughly or carelessly, as though sketched or scribbled on the back of an envelope
Read More‘aptronymic’, ‘aptonym’, etc.
USA—‘aptronymic’ 1915—‘aptonymic’ 1949—‘aptronym’ 1919—‘aptonym’ 1984—these nouns denote a person’s name that is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their profession or personal characteristics—from the adjective ‘apt’, meaning ‘appropriate in the circumstances’, and the suffixes ‘-onymic’ and ‘-onym’
Read Moreorigin of ‘all right, you heard a seal bark’
refers to “All right, have it your own way—you heard a seal bark”, the caption to a drawing by James Thurber, originally published in The New Yorker of 30th January 1932
Read Morehistory of the phrase ‘a bowl of cherries’
USA 1931—a highly enjoyable situation or experience—from ‘life is just a bowl of cherries’ 1928—popularised by song ‘Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries’ 1931
Read Morethe history of ‘dog’s breakfast’ and ‘dog’s dinner’
UK—a confused mess—alludes to the jumbled nature of a dog’s meal—‘like a dog’s dinner’: over-elaborately or ostentatiously dressed
Read Morethe cinematographic origin of the phrase ‘off the cuff’ (spontaneously)
USA, 1928—originally referred to scenario improvising during the silent-film era—the image is of notes written on a shirt-cuff
Read Moreorigin of ‘to crawl out of the woodwork’
USA, 1930—‘to crawl, or to come, out of the woodwork’: of an unpleasant or unwelcome person or thing, to come out of hiding, to emerge from obscurity; the image is of vermin or insects crawling out of crevices or other hidden places in a building
Read Moremeanings of ‘the answer to a maiden’s prayer’
‘the answer to a maiden’s prayer’—primary meaning (USA, 1926): ‘an eligible bachelor’—hence, in extended use, ‘a miracle solution’
Read Morethe emergence of ‘padoodle’ (one-eyed car)
padoodle (USA): exclamation shouted by a person who spots a car with only one working headlight, which entitles this person to kiss or hit someone else
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