‘oojah’: meanings (and origin?)
UK, 1917—used when one cannot think of, or does not wish to use, the name of a thing; by extension, a useful implement, a gadget—origin unknown
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‘Christmas hold’: meaning and origin
also ‘Christmas grip’—Australia, prison slang, 1953—a grabbing of another’s testicles—the image is of a handful of nuts
Read More‘the clean potato’: meaning and origin
the very, the real, or the proper person or thing—1830—of Scottish or Irish origin—perhaps an extended form of the synonymous phrase ‘the potato’
Read More‘toffee-nosed’: meaning and origin
UK, 1914—snobbish or supercilious—refers perhaps to ‘toff’, denoting a fashionable upper-class person—the image is perhaps of someone who, considering themself superior, keeps their nose high in contempt for the lower classes—cf. the form ‘toffy-nosed’ (1919)
Read More‘pound-noteish’: meaning and origin
UK, 1927—affected, pompous—from ‘pound note’ and the suffix ‘-ish’, meaning ‘having the qualities of’—the image is probably of someone who pretends to be worth a pound sterling when they are actually worth less
Read More‘wood-and-water joey’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1847—an odd-job man—‘wood-and-water’ alludes to the phrase ‘hewer of wood and drawer of water’, designating a labourer of the lowest kind—‘joey’ is perhaps the noun denoting a young kangaroo, and by extension anything young or small
Read More‘dumb bunny’: meaning and origin
USA, 1921—a stupid person—seems to have originated in the slang of the flappers and of their male counterparts
Read More‘rosinback’: meaning and origin
USA, 1896, circus slang—a horse used by a bareback rider or acrobat—rosin was rubbed on the horse’s back to prevent the rider or acrobat from slipping
Read More‘skirt patrol’: meaning and origin
USA, 1941—army slang—a search for female companionship
Read More‘Spam medal’: meaning and origin
military slang, 1944—a medal awarded to all members of a force—especially the 1939-1945 Star, awarded to British service personnel who took part in WWII—refers to the ubiquitousness of Spam as a foodstuff
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word histories 