origin of ‘to bite the bullet’
late 19th century—from the practice consisting for a soldier in biting on a bullet when being flogged
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origin of ‘flexible friend’ (credit card)
early 1980s—originated in “Access. Your flexible friend”, advertising slogan for the Access credit card, which played on the notion that repayment was flexible
Read Moreaccording to Cocker
according to Cocker: correctly; reliably—early 19th century, from the name of Edward Cocker (1631-75), English arithmetician, reputed author of a popular Arithmetick
Read Moreaccording to Gunter
‘according to Gunter’: correctly; reliably—early 18th century, from the name of the English mathematician Edmund Gunter (1581-1626)
Read Moreorigin of ‘according to Hoyle’
‘according to Hoyle’: according to plan or the rules—early 19th century: from the name of Edmond Hoyle (1672-1769), English writer on card games
Read Moreorigin of ‘neither fish nor fowl’
Origin: for purposes of fasting, food was divided into categories – ‘fish’, the flesh of fish, ‘flesh’, the flesh of land-animals, ‘fowl’, the flesh of birds.
Read Moreorigin of ‘to cut a caper’
‘caper’: probably abbreviation of ‘cabriole’, from Italian ‘capriola’, literally ‘female roe deer’, from Latin ‘capreola’, ‘wild goat’, from ‘capra’, she-goat
Read Morebetwixt and between
‘betwixt and between’, late 18th century—not fully or properly either of two things, in an intermediate or middling position
Read Moreorigin of ‘castles in Spain’
In French medieval chansons de geste ‘castles in Spain’ denoted fiefs that had to be conquered from the Saracens by the knights to whom they had been granted.
Read Morecarrot and stick
early 20th century—refers to the method of tempting a donkey to move forward by dangling a carrot before it, and beating it with a stick if it refuses
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