‘wouldn’t give you a fright if he/she was a ghost’: meaning and early occurrences
is used of a miserly person—Australia, 1929—UK, 1934
Read MoreTag: P. G. Wodehouse
‘Jeevesian’: meaning and origin
of, or relating to, or characteristic of, or resembling, Jeeves—UK, 1934—refers to Jeeves, the perfect valet in stories by P. G. Wodehouse
Read More‘Jeeves-like’: meaning and origin
Canada, 1928—resembling Jeeves, the perfect valet in stories by the English author Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975); this fictional character first appeared in 1915
Read More‘oojah-cum-spiff’: meaning (and origin?)
fine, all right—UK, 1923 (perhaps coined by P. G. Wodehouse)—perhaps an alteration of ‘oojah capivvy’ after ‘cum’ and ‘spiffy’
Read More‘to talk through (the back of) one’s neck’
1890s—to use extravagant words or language not substantiated by fact; to talk nonsense—occurs in particular in stories by the British authors Ernest William Hornung (1866-1921) and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975)
Read More‘fang-farrier’: meaning and origin
a dentist—World War Two—slang of the British armed forces—was soon adopted into (and came to be regarded as) Australian English—earlier synonyms: ‘fang-faker’ and ‘fang-wrencher’
Read More‘loony doctor’: meaning and origin
from 1924 onwards in stories by English author P. G. Wodehouse—a facetious appellation for a medical practitioner specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness—‘loony’: shortened form of ‘lunatic’
Read More‘to have two left feet’ and synonymous phrases
‘to have two left feet’: to be clumsy or awkward—postdates synonymous ‘to have two left hands’ (1815), loan translation of French ‘avoir deux mains gauches’—‘left’ has long been associated with inferior performance, awkwardness and insincerity
Read More‘loony bin’: meaning and origin
1909 to 1923 in stories by English author P. G. Wodehouse—a facetious appellation for a home or hospital for people with mental illnesses—‘loony’: shortened form of ‘lunatic’
Read Morehistory of ‘that schoolgirl complexion’
American English 1921–British and Irish English 1923—although it was already a cliché, ‘schoolgirl complexion’ was popularised by the advertising slogan for Palmolive Soap
Read More
word histories 