the phrase ‘(still) going strong, like Johnnie Walker’
UK, 1910—extended form of ‘going strong’ (continuing to be healthy, vigorous or successful)—from the advertising slogan for Scotch whisky Johnnie Walker
Read MoreTag: theatre
‘Aunt Edna’ (typical theatregoer of conservative taste)
coined by the English playwright Terence Rattigan (1911-1977) in the preface to Volume 2 of ‘The Collected Plays of Terence Rattigan’ (1953)
Read More‘great minds think alike’ | ‘les grands esprits se rencontrent’
English phrase (1728) preceded by ‘good wits jump’, i.e. ‘agree’ (1618)—French phrase (1775) preceded by ‘les beaux esprits se rencontrent’ (1686)
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘to come to Hecuba’
to come to the point—in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, the title role urges an actor to go straight to Hecuba’s reaction to her husband’s killing
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘not to know — from a bar of soap’
to be completely unacquainted with someone or something—most earliest uses (late 19th century) in U.S. publications, but a few in Australian publications
Read Moremeanings of the British phrase ‘vicarage tea-party’
20th century—denotes something mild, innocuous or uneventful—but those notions have been associated with vicarage tea-parties since the 19th century
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘Punch’s advice—don’t’
from “advice to persons about to marry—don’t”, published in ‘Punch’s Almanack for 1845’ (24 December 1844) by the magazine ‘Punch, or the London Charivari’
Read More‘wallflower’ | ‘faire tapisserie’: on the fringes of a dance
UK 1801 ‘wallflower’—France 1806 ‘faire tapisserie’ (= ‘to do tapestry’)—in both cases because the person keeps their seat at the side of a room during dancing
Read Moremeaning and origin of the phrase ‘not Pygmalion likely’
euphemistic jocular variant of ‘not bloody likely’—UK, 1914—from the sensation caused by the use of the expletive ‘bloody’ in George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’
Read More‘are there any more at home like you?’: usage and origin
chat-up line—from ‘Tell me, pretty maiden (I must love some one)’, a song of the musical comedy ‘Florodora’, produced in Britain in 1899 and in the USA in 1900
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