notes on the phrase ‘a penny bun costs twopence’
1911—expenses rise as soon as one marries or begins cohabiting, or even carries on a romantic relationship—antonym of ‘two can live as cheaply as one’
Read MoreTag: United Kingdom
occurrences of ‘the full monty’ from 1989 to 1994
used to mean ‘everything which is necessary, appropriate or possible’, sometimes with punning reference to the British comedy group ‘Monty Python’
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘to follow the man from Cook’s’
UK, 1899—to comply with someone else’s option—title of a song from musical comedy ‘A Runaway Girl’ (1898) with reference to travel agency Thomas Cook and Son
Read Morehistory of ‘that’s the stuff to give ’em/to give the troops’
First World War military slang—extended forms of ‘that’s the stuff’—used in approval of what has just been done or said, or to mean ‘that is what is needed’
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire’
‘upstairs to bed’—UK, 1923: title of a song by Nixon Grey—‘Bedfordshire’ jocular extension of ‘bed’ (1665)—‘the wooden hill’ metaphor for ‘the stairs’ (1856)
Read Morehistory of ‘come up and see my etchings’
USA, 1935—used as an invitation to sexual dalliance—in 1937, William Hays’s censorship office apparently banned it in cinema films
Read More‘to play billiards well is a sign of a misspent youth’
UK, 1884—often erroneously attributed to philosopher Herbert Spencer, who said he only repeated an assertion made by a friend of his, Charles Roupell
Read Moremeaning and origin of ‘put that in your pipe and smoke it’
accept that fact if you can—1820: Irish English and associated with the obsolete figurative sense ‘to consider’ of the verb ‘smoke’
Read Morehistory of the phrase ‘every picture tells a story’
used of images suggestive of real or imaginary events—UK and USA early 1900s: popularised by its use as an advertising slogan for Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills
Read More‘mushroom treatment: kept in the dark and fed bullshit’
American English, 1965—signification: to be kept in a state of ignorance and told nonsense—in use a few years later in Australian English and British English
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