‘not waving but drowning’: meaning and origin
used of a person whose display of distress misleads others into underestimating this distress—UK, 1962—from ‘Not Waving but Drowning’ (1954), by Stevie Smith
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notes on ‘all fur coats and no knickers’
UK, 1963—ostentatious vulgarity in social life—from the literal sense of a fashionably dressed woman whose appearance covers vulgarity
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 More‘Is a bear Catholic?’ | ‘Does the Pope shit in the woods?’
USA, 1984—used to indicate that something is blatantly obvious—humorously from ‘Is the Pope Catholic?’ and ‘Does a bear shit in the woods?’
Read Morenotes on the phrase ‘Is the Pope (a) Catholic?’
USA, 1951—rhetorical question used ironically as a response to a question or statement felt to be blatantly obvious
Read Morehistory of the British name ‘Lobby Lud’
1927—a mystery man The Westminster Gazette’s readers were challenged to identify in order to claim prize money—‘Lobby Lud’: the Gazette’s telegraphic address
Read Morenotes on the phrase ‘a licence to print money’
North America, 1943: used of owners of professional baseball teams—Britain, 1958: used of the franchises granted for running commercial television stations
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘back to square one’
UK, 1952—back to where one started, with no progress having been made—refers to the game of snakes and ladders
Read Morenotes on the British phrase ‘if wet, in the vicarage’
20th century—originally a precautionary stipulation in announcements of events such as church fêtes—hence used humorously of any forthcoming event
Read Morea Liverpudlian phrase: ‘don’t forget the diver’
1923—from Bernard Pykett’s plea when asking for money after his diving exhibitions—popularised from 1941 onwards by the BBC radio comedy programme It’s That Man Again
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