‘two more and up goes the donkey’: meanings and origin
UK, 1834—an old cry used at fairs, the showman promising his audience that as soon as enough pennies are collected, his donkey will balance itself on the top of a ladder
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‘the long arm of coincidence’: meaning and origin
the far-reaching power or effect of coincidence—coined in 1888 by the Australian playwright Charles Haddon Chambers in Captain Swift
Read More‘(as) hungry as a hunter’: meaning and origin
extremely hungry—circa 1623 as ‘(as) hungry as a huntsman’—1756 as ‘(as) hungry as a hunter’
Read More‘barmy army’: meanings and origin
UK—1978 (frequently as a self-designation): a group of followers of a sports team; a youth street gang—1981 (derogatory): a political faction regarded as extremist or fanatical—‘barmy’ means ‘crazy’
Read More‘to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic’: meaning and origin
to engage in pointless or futile activity in the face of disaster—USA, 1969—apparently first used, and perhaps coined, by Elizabeth Carpenter, press secretary for the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson
Read More‘little-girl-lost’ | ‘little-boy-lost’: meaning and origin
USA, early 1930s—adjectives—‘little-girl-lost’: resembling (that of) a small girl who has lost her way—‘little-boy-lost’: resembling (that of) a small boy who has lost his way
Read More‘cut the cackle (and come to the horses)’: meaning and origin
‘stop talking (and get to the heart of the matter)’—UK, 1878—said to have been coined by circus proprietor Andrew Ducrow when apostrophising equestrian performers
Read More‘fang’—as used in reference to high speed
Australia, 1970—as a noun and as a verb, refers to a high-speed drive in a motor vehicle—from the surname of the Argentinian motor-racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio
Read More‘egg-dance’: meanings and origin
(UK, 1775): a dance blindfold among eggs—hence, figuratively (UK, 1856): an intricate and difficult task—also used as a verb
Read More‘Mrs Dale-ish’: meaning and origin
conventionally middle-class—UK, 1953—from ‘Mrs Dale’, the name of a conventional middle-class woman in Mrs Dale’s Diary, a BBC radio serial broadcast from 1948 to 1969
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