1941 in the sense ‘under the influence of alcohol’—aided by the phonetic similarity of ‘grip’ and ‘grape’, this phrase has, in the course of time, been coined on separate occasions by various persons, independently from one another
Read MoreUK, 1710—in ease and luxury—refers to the use of clover as fodder, as explained by Samuel Johnson in A Dictionary of the English Language (1755): “To live in Clover, is to live luxuriously; clover being extremely delicious and fattening to cattle.”
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‘four-leaved clover’: a rare form of clover leaf having four leaflets, regarded as a lucky charm or sign of good fortune—superstition mentioned as early as 1620—sometimes associated with ‘even ash’, a rare form of ash leaf having an even number of leaflets
Read MoreAustralia, 1981—used by some Aborigines of those who are considered to have betrayed their Aboriginal identity in order to be accepted into the white Australian society—the image is that (like the coconut, dark on the outside, but white on the inside) those Aboriginal ‘betrayers’ are outwardly black, but inwardly white
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UK, 1877—an onion-seller from Brittany who sold onions door-to-door around the coasts of Britain—used with modifying word, ‘Johnny’ designates a person of the type, profession, etc., specified
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a deliberate malapropism punning on ‘to cast aspersions on’—UK, 1902—nasturtiums are low plants with large round leaves and orange, red or yellow flowers
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UK 1801 ‘wallflower’—France 1806 ‘faire tapisserie’ (= ‘to do tapestry’)—in both cases because the person keeps their seat at the side of a room during dancing
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UK, 1798—‘cocktail’ explained as being “vulgarly called ginger”—perhaps from the use of ‘ginger’ to denote a cock with red plumage
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site of a nuclear power station accident (1986)—name associated with the end of the world in the Bible—epithet for Disneyland Paris, seen as a cultural disaster
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USA 1931—a highly enjoyable situation or experience—from ‘life is just a bowl of cherries’ 1928—popularised by song ‘Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries’ 1931
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