‘wokerati’: meaning and origin
USA, 2019, derogatory—people (regarded as elitist and pretentious) who are alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice—a blend of the adjective ‘woke’ and of the noun ‘literati’
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‘hovercraft’: meanings and origin
a vehicle which travels on a cushion of air—UK, 1958, apparently coined by engineer Christopher Sydney Cockerell—also, USA, 1958, in the sense of “a flying car”
Read More‘honest Injun’: meaning and origin
used as an interjection to assert truthfulness, honour or sincerity—USA, 1851, as ‘honest Indian’—perhaps alludes to the fact that, in their past interactions with Europeans, Native Americans had to give assurance of their good faith
Read More‘to drop — like a hot potato’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1815—to abandon a person or undertaking hastily, especially when they become controversial or difficult to handle, as a hot potato is
Read More‘pizza face’: meaning and origin
a person with facial acne—Californian high-school slang, 1963—in this expression, the pimples caused by facial acne are likened to slices of pepperoni on a pizza
Read More‘to go for the jugular’: meaning and origin
to criticise or attack somebody aggressively or decisively; to target an adversary’s weakest or most vulnerable point—USA, 1879—the image is of attacking a person fatally in the throat or neck, where the jugular vein runs
Read More‘to go (and) jump in(to) the lake’: meaning and origin
to go away and stop being a nuisance—chiefly used in the imperative as a contemptuous dismissal—USA, 1883—the image is of somebody jumping into a lake and drowning
Read More‘humongous’: meaning and origin
extremely large, huge, enormous—USA, 1967—of uncertain origin; probably a factitious adjective coined on the suffix ‘-ous’, influenced by ‘hugeous’ and ‘monstrous’, and perhaps by the stress-patterns of ‘stupendous’, ‘tremendous’, etc.
Read More‘(just) a pretty face’: original meaning and early occurrences
a woman who had no qualities other than attractiveness, with connotations of low intelligence, or of flightiness, or of low social status and poverty—second half of the 19th century, chiefly in stories by women writers
Read More‘chateau tap-water’ | ‘Château-la-Pompe’
tap-water likened to a grand cru—in reference to ‘château’ in names of wines of superior quality—in French ‘Château-la-Pompe’ (i.e. ‘Château-the-Pump’), ‘pompe’ denotes a device for raising water
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