Tag: P. G. Wodehouse

meaning and origin of the phrase ‘a fly in the ointment’

.Reading time 5 minutes.

  “I think we may say everything’s more or less oojah-cum-spiff. With one exception, Jeeves,” I said, a graver note coming into my voice as I gave Gus his second helping of kipper. “There remains a fly in the ointment, a familiar saying meaning—well, I don’t quite know what it does mean. It seems to […]

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the probable origin of the word ‘posh’

.Reading time 9 minutes.

  One of the earliest instances of posh is from a cartoon published in Punch, or The London Charivari (London, England) of 25th September 1918. An RAF officer is talking to his mother: “Oh, yes, Mater, we had a posh time of it down there.” “Whatever do you mean by ‘posh,’ Gerald?” “Don’t you know? […]

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