‘piscinity’: meaning and origin
USA, 1859—humorous—the quality or condition of being a fish—from the prefix ‘pisci-’ (of, or relating to, fish) and the suffix ‘-ity’ (after the noun ‘humanity’)
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‘dreamcatcher’: original meaning
USA, 1943—a mattress, a pillow, pyjamas, etc., advertised as ensuring a good night’s sleep
Read More‘beer goggles’: meaning and origin
U.S. College slang, 1985—the effects of alcohol thought of metaphorically as a pair of goggles that alter a person’s perceptions especially by making others appear more attractive than they actually are
Read More‘Quatorze Juillet’: meaning and origin
USA, 1882—the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—also shortened to ‘Quatorze’ (1898)
Read More‘Bastille Day’: meaning and origin
the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—coined in 1837 by Thomas Carlyle
Read More‘(here’s) mud in your eye’: meaning—and origin?
USA, 1911—a humorous drinking toast—origin unknown—the image is perhaps that mud in one’s eye blurs one’s vision like alcohol does
Read More‘council-house television’: meaning and origin
UK, 1993—derogatory—Sky Television Network, regarded as downmarket—alluded to the number of satellite dishes on council houses and council tower-blocks
Read More‘Kiwiness’: meaning and origin
the quality or fact of being from New Zealand; characteristics regarded as typical of New Zealand or New Zealanders—coined in 1967 by the U.S. Professor of Psychology Eugene Leonard Hartley
Read More‘the wider the brim, the smaller the property’: meanings and origin
chiefly Australian, 20th century—formula for estimating the size of rural holdings—also used figuratively of someone who talks boastfully without acting on their words
Read More‘Z-car’: meaning and origin
a police patrol car—UK, 1959—originally any of the special crime police patrol cars used in Lancashire—from the radio call-sign ‘Z’ allotted to such cars—popularised by the British television series ‘Z Cars’ (1962-78)
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