‘fang-farrier’: meaning and origin
a dentist—World War Two—slang of the British armed forces—was soon adopted into (and came to be regarded as) Australian English—earlier synonyms: ‘fang-faker’ and ‘fang-wrencher’
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‘grotty’: meaning and origin
UK—a general term of disapproval, meaning ‘unpleasant’, ‘dirty’, ‘nasty’, ‘ugly’, etc.—shortened form of ‘grotesque’—first recorded in (and popularised by) A Hard Day’s Night (1964), a musical comedy film starring the Beatles
Read More‘a fart in a spacesuit’: meaning and origin
UK, 1980—denotes someone or something that is unwelcome, unpopular, etc.—first recorded in a remark by the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, but perhaps originated in Royal-Navy slang
Read More‘brolly hop’: meaning and origin
UK, 1933—a jump made with a parachute—hence also the verbal noun ‘brolly-hopping’ and the verb ‘brolly-hop’—‘brolly’ (university slang, late 19th century): a clipped and altered form of ‘umbrella’
Read More‘the (little) man in the boat’: meaning and origin
UK, 1896—the clitoris—likens the clitoris, placed between the inner labia of the vulva, to a person in a boat
Read More‘gavroche’: meaning and origin
USA, 1863—a street urchin, especially in Paris, France—from ‘Gavroche’, the name of a street urchin in Les Misérables (1862), a novel by Victor Hugo
Read More‘Mr Fixit’: meaning and origin
USA, 1906—a man who fixes something, especially a man who, often illicitly, arranges matters or sets up deals—cf. ‘fixer’: one who, often illicitly, arranges or adjusts matters
Read More‘in the pudding club’: meaning and origin
UK, 1890—pregnant—refers to “the bulging puddinglike appearance of a pregnant woman”
Read More‘to laugh like a drain’: meaning and origin
UK, 1935—to laugh loudly and coarsely—alludes to the sound of water gurgling down a drain
Read More‘(as) right as a trivet’: meaning and origin
UK, 1824—thoroughly or perfectly right—‘trivet’: a metal tripod for a cooking pot or kettle to stand on—the phrase refers to a trivet’s always standing firm on its three feet
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