meaning and origin of ‘not to have a scooby’
to have no idea at all—Scotland, 1990—‘scooby’ (short for ‘Scooby Doo’, name of cartoon dog in U.S. television series and films): rhyming slang for ‘clue’
Read MoreTag: politics
meaning and origin of ‘to box clever’
UK, 1935—to conduct oneself adroitly (‘clever’: adverb meaning ‘skilfully’)—originated in boxing
Read More‘booze cruise’ #1: a Scottish acceptation
1950—Sunday trip by car or bus, making use of the bona fide clause in licensing laws, by which non-residents got alcohol—coined by Scottish novelist George Blake
Read More‘a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage’
USA—from Republican slogan during the 1928 presidential campaign—‘a chicken in every pot’: from a declaration attributed to King Henri IV of France (1553-1610)
Read Morea Briticism: ‘lollipop’ in reference to school crossing
1957—circular sign on a pole held up to stop traffic so that children may cross the road near a school—person who stops traffic by holding up such a sign
Read Moremeanings and origin of ‘Aunt Emma’
croquet: unenterprising or defensive player or play—from the name of the fictitious author of a chapter on such tactics in Lillie’s ‘Croquet up to Date’ (1900)
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘to follow the man from Cook’s’
UK, 1899—to comply with someone else’s option—title of a song from musical comedy ‘A Runaway Girl’ (1898) with reference to travel agency Thomas Cook and Son
Read Morehistory of ‘that’s the stuff to give ’em/to give the troops’
First World War military slang—extended forms of ‘that’s the stuff’—used in approval of what has just been done or said, or to mean ‘that is what is needed’
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire’
‘upstairs to bed’—UK, 1923: title of a song by Nixon Grey—‘Bedfordshire’ jocular extension of ‘bed’ (1665)—‘the wooden hill’ metaphor for ‘the stairs’ (1856)
Read Morehistory of ‘come up and see my etchings’
USA, 1935—used as an invitation to sexual dalliance—in 1937, William Hays’s censorship office apparently banned it in cinema films
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