‘mauvaise langue’: meanings and origin
UK, 1822—a vituperative gossip, a scandalmonger; an evil or malicious tongue—a borrowing from French ‘mauvaise langue’ (literally ‘bad tongue’) of same significations
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‘goofy foot’: meaning and origin
one who rides a surfboard with the right foot forward instead of the left—USA, 1960 (as a verb)—here, ‘goofy’ seems to be related to prejudice against left-handedness and left-footedness
Read More‘not worth a pudding’: meaning and early occurrences
1546—of little or no worth—here, ‘pudding’ refers to a sausage-like mass of seasoned minced meat, oatmeal, etc., stuffed into a prepared skin and boiled
Read More‘not a word of the pudding’: meaning and early occurrences
1666—a warning or exhortation to say nothing about a particular matter—of unknown origin—may allude to the mysterious nature of pudding stuffing
Read More‘jobation’: meaning and origin
1687—a lengthy and tedious reprimand—from the verb ‘job’ (1666), meaning: to reprimand in a long and tedious harangue—with allusion to the lengthy reproofs addressed to Job by his friends in the Book of Job
Read More‘to cut a long story short’: meaning and early occurrences
also, and originally (1729), ‘to make a long story short’: to be brief or concise—this phrase is typically used as a sentence adverbial, with the sense: in short, in summary, briefly
Read More‘crosswordese’: meaning and origin
the style of language considered characteristic of crossword clues or solutions—USA, 1925—from the noun ‘crossword’ and the suffix ‘-ese’, forming nouns designating the style of language considered characteristic of the first element
Read More‘to walk the plank’: meanings and origin
late 18th century, in the context of piracy: to walk along a plank placed over the side of a ship until one falls into the sea—hence, figuratively, early 19th century: to be forced to resign from one’s office or position
Read More‘kangaroo-ship’: meaning and origin
1910s—a ship designed to carry submarines—likens the submarines carried in such ships to the immature young nursed in the abdominal pouch of female kangaroos
Read More‘Beatle boot’: meaning and origin
UK & Ireland, 1963—a type of ankle boot worn by men, that was popularised by the Beatles
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