“ad fontes!”
Australia, 1914—to leave indisputable evidence of one’s involvement in an affair, endeavour, etc.—‘fingerprint’: an impression made on a surface by the tip of a person’s finger, as used in criminal investigations
Read MoreUK, 1924, as ‘cameo part’, used of two small roles in Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar
Read Morean event or occasion at which the expected principal participant is not present—coined after ‘Hamlet without the Prince’—‘Lear without the King’ 1904—‘Henry V without the King’ 1964
Read MoreUK, 1999—refers to ‘Waiting for Godot’, a play by Samuel Beckett—absurd phrase, since the titular character never appears in the play—always occurs in association with the phrase ‘Hamlet without the Prince’
Read Moresoldiers, especially low-ranking recruits, collectively regarded as expendable in war—UK, 1740—coined by William Shakespeare in Henry IV, Part 1 (1598)
Read Moreexcessive reverence for William Shakespeare—1901, coined by George Bernard Shaw—from ‘the Bard’, an epithet of William Shakespeare, and the combining form ‘-olatry’, forming nouns with the sense ‘worship of’, ‘excessive reverence for’
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has been used since September 1978 to denote the winter of 1978-79 in the United Kingdom, during which widespread strikes took place in protest against the then Labour government’s wage limits
Read MoreUK—the summer of 2022, during which numerous strikes took place—alludes to ‘winter of discontent’, i.e., the winter of 1978-79, during which widespread strikes took place in protest against the government’s wage limits
Read More1942—an arena of fierce or ruthless rivalry—borrowed from French: literally ‘basket of crabs’—the image is of crabs fighting, if not devouring one another, when kept in a basket
Read MoreUK, 1830—a happy or positive attitude that fails to notice negative things, leading to a view of life that is not realistic
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word histories 