‘shaggy-dog story’: meaning and early occurrences
USA, 1914—origin unknown—a long rambling joke ending in a deliberate anticlimax, such as an absurd or irrelevant punchline
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the noun ‘pig tracks’ in U.S. phrases
in the phrases ‘(as) regular as pig tracks’ (1853) and ‘(as) common as pig tracks’ (1854), the plural noun ‘pig tracks’ is an intensifier—Southern United States
Read More‘Quatorze Juillet’: meaning and origin
USA, 1882—the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—also shortened to ‘Quatorze’ (1898)
Read More‘Bastille Day’: meaning and origin
the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—coined in 1837 by Thomas Carlyle
Read More‘(here’s) mud in your eye’: meaning—and origin?
USA, 1911—a humorous drinking toast—origin unknown—the image is perhaps that mud in one’s eye blurs one’s vision like alcohol does
Read More‘council-house television’: meaning and origin
UK, 1993—derogatory—Sky Television Network, regarded as downmarket—alluded to the number of satellite dishes on council houses and council tower-blocks
Read More‘the wider the brim, the smaller the property’: meanings and origin
chiefly Australian, 20th century—formula for estimating the size of rural holdings—also used figuratively of someone who talks boastfully without acting on their words
Read More‘a trap for young players’: meaning and origin
a hazard for the unwary—UK, 1887—originally used in reference to the game of draughts—then (Australia, 1894) in reference to cricket
Read More‘cowyard confetti’ and variants: meaning and origin
Australia, 1932—also ‘Flemington confetti’ (1933) and ‘farmyard confetti’ (1967)—bullshit (i.e., nonsense, rubbish)—also occasionally used literally in the sense of faeces
Read More‘fine weather for ducks’: meaning and origin
UK, 1811—refers humorously to wet weather
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