“ad fontes!”
the three traditional interests of the stereotypical New-Zealand man—but also applied to both sexes—1962 or 1963 as the title and in the lyrics of a song by the New-Zealand singer-songwriter Rod Derrett
Read MoreUSA, 1876: from beginning to end, completely, exhaustively—literal meaning, 1852: all the successive parts of a meal, from soup at the beginning to nuts at the end
Read MoreUSA, 1883—exclamation of surprise at seeing something or somebody unexpected—alludes to a hunter who will lament seeing all sorts of game when he goes out into the woods and fields without his gun
Read MoreUSA, 1925—With, of course, a pun on ‘pee’, meaning ‘to urinate’, the jocular phrase ‘silent like (the) ‘p’ in swimming’ is used when exposing a difficulty in pronunciation.
Read MoreUK, 18th century—addressed to one who stands between the speaker and the light of a window, a lamp, a candle or a fire, or, more generally, to one who obstructs the speaker’s view
Read Morea hypothetical ordinary working man—USA, 1970—refers to a man who buys beer in six-packs—apparently coined by a political informant on the blue-collar area of Fields Corner in Dorchester, neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts
Read Morea word in confidence—UK, 1927—‘shell-like’ elliptical for ‘shell-like ear’, which was originally a poetical term associating the shape of the external ear with the graceful convolutions of a small pink seashell
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theatre—a typical entrance or exit line given to a young man in a superficial drawing-room comedy—USA 1934—but 1908 in a short story evoking the pastimes of members of the leisured class during a stay at a country house
Read MoreAmerican English, 1823—meaning: if one is falsely reputed to act in a specific manner, then one may as well act in that manner
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refers to “All right, have it your own way—you heard a seal bark”, the caption to a drawing by James Thurber, originally published in The New Yorker of 30th January 1932
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