“ad fontes!”
‘cross I win (and) pile you lose’ (1673)—‘heads I win (and) tails you lose’ (1728)—meaning: ‘I win whatever happens’—with reference to the practice of tossing a coin to determine a winner or to make a decision
Read MoreUK, 1711—means that anyone can be right occasionally, if only by chance—often used specifically to suggest that one holding a fixed belief regardless of changing circumstances will occasionally, if rarely, be correct
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USA, 1941—the person with the least amount of experience, authority and/or influence in a group or organisation—apparently coined, as ‘low man on any totem pole’, by comedian Fred Allen in a portrait of his friend, humorist H. Allen Smith
Read MoreUSA, 1906: a person who advocates equality for all people at a high level of prosperity (i.e., who believes in champagne for everybody)—UK, 1956: a person who espouses socialist ideals while enjoying a wealthy lifestyle
Read MoreUSA, 1919—a person who espouses socialist ideals while enjoying a wealthy lifestyle—‘limousine’: a luxury motor car with a compartment for the passengers and a separate compartment for the driver
Read MoreUSA, 1954—used of a theory that a political event or development in one country, etc., will lead to its occurrence in others—the image is of a falling domino causing an entire row of upended dominoes to fall
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USA, 1898—a view as seen from below or from a humble position—refers to a view taken as from the standpoint of a worm, i.e. from ground-level—coined after ‘bird’s-eye view’ (1782), denoting a view of a landscape from above, such as is presented to the eye of a bird
Read More‘to be destined or appropriate for a particular person’—originated during the First World War as ‘to have a person’s name and number on it’, and meant, of a bullet, etc., ‘to be destined to hit a particular person’
Read MoreCanada and UK, 1978—to publicly disclose perceived wrongdoing or failure on the part of a person or institution; to expose private behaviour to public censure—earlier longer phrases include ‘blame’
Read MoreUSA, 1838—the place or area where someone lives—originally: a narrow stretch of wood; by extension: a settlement in wooded or remote country—formerly also ‘neck of timber’
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word histories 