‘even a stopped clock is right twice a day’

22nd Apr 2021.Reading time 7 minutes.

UK, 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

origin of ‘lock, stock and barrel’ (i.e. ‘completely’)

18th Mar 2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

USA, 1811—based on the three principal components that make up a flintlock gun: ‘lock’ denotes the firing mechanism, ‘stock’ the handle or wooden shoulder-piece to which it is attached, and ‘barrel’ the tube down which the bullet is fired

British origin of Gotham, nickname for New York City

9th Jan 2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

Many centuries before becoming a nickname for New York City and the name of a fictional city associated with the Batman stories, Gotham was used in Britain as the name of a (probably fictional) village proverbial for the folly of its inhabitants.

word histories

Tag: Washington Irving

‘even a stopped clock is right twice a day’

origin of ‘lock, stock and barrel’ (i.e. ‘completely’)

British origin of Gotham, nickname for New York City