UK, 1844—extreme meanness never made anyone better off—compare Book of Proverbs, 11:24: “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.”
Read More19th century—refer to two handkerchiefs, one used as a clothing accessory, the other for blowing the nose—hence, figuratively ‘for display rather than for use’ and ‘one for display and one for use’
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USA, 1905—a situation that is likely to lead to disaster or misfortune, especially because of negligence or neglect; someone who behaves in a way that is likely to cause trouble
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USA, 1967—emphatic negative phrase meaning ‘well, hardly’ or ‘no, that’s impossible’—used as the title of a jazz piece composed by Johnny Hodges—said to be a folk phrase that he had heard “out West”
Read MoreUSA, 1976—the outcome of a situation cannot be assumed—may allude to the stereotype of a large female soprano singing the final aria of an opera—from ‘church ain’t out ’till the fat lady sings’ (1976), itself from ‘church ain’t out until the singing is over’ (1872)
Read MoreUSA, 1872—the first clause refers to accurate calculations, the second punningly refers to the manipulation of those calculations—based on the figure called chiasmus, i.e., in which the order of words in the first clause is inverted in the second
Read MoreUSA, 1911—is applied to an act or activity that brings in no money—is often preceded by the third-person singular pronoun ‘it’
Read Morea representation of the letter A in scarlet cloth which Hester Prynne is condemned to wear in The Scarlet Letter (1850), by Nathaniel Hawthorne—soon came to be used figuratively in the sense of a stigma, a mark of infamy
Read MoreThis phrase is applied to someone who is very strong and resilient in the face of hardship or pain. It originated in the USA in 1918; it has been used in British English since 1933.
Read Moremilitary slang, derisive—of military medals and decorations: to be awarded automatically, without regard to merit—coined during the First World War
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