“ad fontes!”
USA, 1969—the phrases ‘off the radar’, ‘under the radar’ and ‘below the radar’ are used of something or someone that cannot be detected—the reference is to an aircraft flying too low to be detected by a radar
Read MoreAustralia, 1953—to flatter someone or to (seek to) ingratiate oneself with someone, to curry favour with someone—cf. 19th-century British phrase ‘to piss down someone’s back’ (to flatter someone)
Read MoreAustralia, 1982—denotes physical ugliness
Read MoreAustralia, 1957, as ‘a hatful of bronzas’—used in similes expressing notions such as ugliness and silliness
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also ‘to throw a wobbler’—New Zealand, 1964—to lose one’s self-control in a fit of nerves, temper, panic, etc.—‘wobbly’, also ‘wobbler’, denotes a fit of temper or panic
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colloquial—USA, 1949—a female employee who works at a supermarket checkout counter—is also occasionally applied to males
Read Morea person who struggles for a livelihood, and who displays great determination in so doing—Australia, 1974—originally applied to the Australian television host, radio presenter and singer Ernie Sigley
Read Moresexual intercourse—Scotland, 1968—reduplication (with variation of the initial consonant and addition of the suffix ‘-y’) of the noun ‘rump’, denoting a person’s buttocks
Read Morea suspenseful ending to an episode of a serial; the serial itself—USA, early 1930s—originally referred to serials which ended episodes with their protagonists literally hanging from cliffs, or in similarly dangerous situations
Read Morea film which fails to achieve the commercial success that was expected—UK, 1986—from ‘flop’ (a failure) and ‘-buster’ in ‘blockbuster’ (a film which achieves great commercial success)
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word histories 