“ad fontes!”
as ‘coats for goalposts’: UK, late 19th century—refers to the type of informal football played by young people in public spaces, in which coats or/and jumpers belonging to the players are used as improvised goalposts
Read MoreCanada, 1977: pouch-pack milk, as opposed to cartoned milk—UK, 1984: bag-in-box wine (said to be of Australian-English origin, but this is not corroborated)
Read Moreto create a diversion, in order to avoid a dangerous or unpleasant situation—UK, 1730—alludes to the Preface to A Tale of a Tub (1704), by Jonathan Swift
Read MoreAustralia, 1940 (?)—UK, 1963—origin unknown—either somehow derived from the sense ‘to be parched’ of the phrase ‘to spit feathers’ or a distinct phrase which happens to be identical in form
Read MoreUSA, 1850—based on the image of a thirsty person whose mouth is so parched that it feels as if it were filled with feathers and that the person thus feels choked
Read Moreto smoke tobacco very heavily —UK, 1824, as “smoking away like the chimney of the King of the Netherlands”
Read MoreUSA, 1874 & Britain, 1875: a commercial vehicle from which ice cream is sold, typically at the roadside—originally in Britain: typically at a fair
Read Morerefers to a school’s bicycle-shed as a place of seclusion in which pupils pursue prohibited activities such as fighting, smoking, etc.—1909—‘bicycle-shed’: a shed for storing bicycles when not in use
Read Morea floating position, used as a survival technique, consisting in lying on one’s back in the water—UK, 1841
Read Moreindoor football—UK, public-school & university slang, 1897—‘fug’: a thick, close, stuffy atmosphere, especially that of a room overcrowded and with little or no ventilation
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