UK, 1898—Australia, 1913—used when, while addressing someone, the speaker is interrupted by someone else—in particular when the person who interrupts is a subordinate of the person whom the speaker addresses
Read More(baseball) a good fielder, but a poor hitter, i.e., batter—USA, 1925—purportedly coined in 1924 by Miguel Gonzales to describe Moe Berg in a telegram to Mike Kelley
Read MoreUK, 1862—originally said to children in order that they develop an upright posture—came to be humorously used when declining a proffered seat
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a live video feed in a sports arena showing images of selected couples in the audience in the expectation that they will kiss—USA and Canada, 2001
Read Moreall or nothing—Australia, 1895—the image is of a dinner composed entirely of duck, i.e. of choice food, as opposed to no dinner at all
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USA, 1992—the folds of loose skin or fat which hang from the undersides of a person’s upper arms—so named because they are common in older women, who are regarded as the type of person most likely to play bingo
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USA, 1938—UK, 1961—satirical phrase referring to the addiction to bingo, a game in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers
Read MoreUSA, 1947—a mild insult perhaps alluding to impecuniousness—seems to have originated amongst teenagers and young adults
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UK, 1870—based on the stereotype of Scots being miserly—from the story of the Scotsman who complained that he had to spend, in London, the small sum of sixpence
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USA, 1830—used in association with ‘see’, ‘said the blind man’ puns on this verb’s primary meaning (‘to perceive with the eyes’) and secondary meanings (‘to understand’, ‘to find out’, ‘to examine’)
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