Thanks for this fascinating list of terms/phrases. I’ve added most of them to post one. I will observe that according to an online source that Splice The Mainbrace originally did refer to an emergency repair onboard a sailing ship.
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Idioms, Phrases, and Acronyms of the English Language
- Thread starter Huntn
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Added to post 1- Proof is in the Pudding, Son of a Gun, Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea, Show a Leg, Splice The Mainbrace.
https://grammarist.com/usage/proof-is-in-the-pudding/
The idiom is usually stated the proof is in the pudding and means that the end result is the mark of the success or failure of one’s efforts or planning. The phrase may also be used in the past and future tenses: the proof will be/was in the pudding.
https://grammarist.com/usage/proof-is-in-the-pudding/
The idiom is usually stated the proof is in the pudding and means that the end result is the mark of the success or failure of one’s efforts or planning. The phrase may also be used in the past and future tenses: the proof will be/was in the pudding.
I used the term mental this morning in a post over in PRSI, and I believe I have picked up this specific use from the U.K. I used to say mentally ill, as I remember the first time I heard the term in a movie set in England when someone was referred to a “mental”. It could have been Harry Potter, but maybe before that.
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/115675/whats-the-meaning-of-mental-here
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/115675/whats-the-meaning-of-mental-here
I used the term mental this morning in a post over in PRSI, and I believe I have picked up this specific use from the U.K. I used to say mentally ill, as I remember the first time I heard the term in a movie set in England when someone was referred to a “mental”. It could have been Harry Potter, but maybe before that.
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/115675/whats-the-meaning-of-mental-here
The question "Are you mental?" was asked (by one character of another) in one of the Harry Potter books (meaning are you nuts? Have you taken complete leave of your senses?)
I find this very interesting!
Blowing smoke up your ass
gizmodo.com
When someone is "blowing smoke up your arse" today, it is a figure of speech that means that one person is complimenting another, insincerely most of the time, in order to inflate the ego of the individual being flattered.
Back in the late 1700s, however, doctors literally blew smoke up people's rectums. Believe it or not, it was a general mainstream medical procedure used to, among many other things, resuscitate people who were otherwise presumed dead. In fact, it was such a commonly used resuscitation method for drowning victims particularly, that the equipment used in this procedure was hung alongside certain major waterways, such as along the River Thames (equipment courtesy of the Royal Humane Society). People frequenting waterways were expected to know the location of this equipment similar to modern times concerning the location of defibrillators.
Blowing smoke up your ass
"Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass" Used to Be Literal
When someone is "blowing smoke up your arse" today, it is a figure of speech that means that one person is complimenting another, insincerely most of the time, in order to inflate the ego of the individual being flattered.
gizmodo.com
Back in the late 1700s, however, doctors literally blew smoke up people's rectums. Believe it or not, it was a general mainstream medical procedure used to, among many other things, resuscitate people who were otherwise presumed dead. In fact, it was such a commonly used resuscitation method for drowning victims particularly, that the equipment used in this procedure was hung alongside certain major waterways, such as along the River Thames (equipment courtesy of the Royal Humane Society). People frequenting waterways were expected to know the location of this equipment similar to modern times concerning the location of defibrillators.
@yaxomoxay: You may find this of interest - and it is relevant to the discussion in this thread.
The very first sentence in the introduction of a book I am reading - a history of the EIC (East India Company) - is the very kind of first sentence I love to read in a book:
"One of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was the Hindustani slang for plunder: loot. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word was rarely heard outside of the plains of north India until the late eighteenth century, when it suddenly became a common term across Britain."
The very first sentence in the introduction of a book I am reading - a history of the EIC (East India Company) - is the very kind of first sentence I love to read in a book:
"One of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was the Hindustani slang for plunder: loot. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word was rarely heard outside of the plains of north India until the late eighteenth century, when it suddenly became a common term across Britain."
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Something something The Anarchy by a William or another?
The very work: The Anarchy - The Relentless Rise Of The East India Company - by William Dalrymple.
Funny that. I came across that last week. Didn't pick it up because I ended up at the sellers page for it because I'd been doing some reading on LeClerc and somehow landed towards the Dutch lad Verstappen, which somehow sparked an idea of looking up traditional kofta recipes, then went down the rabbit hole of Dutch history when my mind rewinded a bit, landed at the Dutch East India and then to the East India Company.
It's a wonder how I ever get things done.
Ah, I well understand the attraction of historical rabbit holes and have been known to have fallen, stumbled, staggered, and tumbled into them, on occasion, myself.
oh my...after this, I bought the book; thanks for helping me spend my money..........
Just more proof in the pudding that 'Merkins are stupid.
The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'
No evidence is in there, but it was a treat to find out.
Added to post 1. I recently heard Beast (a Marvel Universe character) say this in X-Men United.
- Oh My Stars And Garters!- An expression of surprise, with an origination in the UK. The basis of the phrase the garter, the highest award that a king or queen of England could give a knight. Other royal awards are in the shape of a star. Therefore, stars and garters refers to royal honors and awards. Link 1, Link 2.
I love learning about the origin of phrases. I like 86 for getting rid of something. I've read of two origins.
Bin 86 on a naval vessel is for garbage.
There was a club in NYC where shady dealings were done, and if a raid was reported, everyone went out the back door which faced 86th.
Bin 86 on a naval vessel is for garbage.
There was a club in NYC where shady dealings were done, and if a raid was reported, everyone went out the back door which faced 86th.
@Huntn yesterday I joked to someone who was not English first about needing a "round tuit".
Despite his fluency he did not understand it. Fortunately easy to explain.
Despite his fluency he did not understand it. Fortunately easy to explain.
Yeah my boss handed me a round tuit once in a staff meeting with five other people... it was one she had made by hand, cut out of a piece of shirt cardboard and written on with a felt marker. It had a hole punched in it, ready to hang up in my cube, with a piece of yarn threaded through it even. That was a week after I'd said I hadn't got around to it after she asked about some little PITA job estimate she'd asked me to make for an in house client. I was like royally embarrassed and never uttered that phrase again. ?
Confession time, I had no clue what that term meant until I looked it up. ?
round tuit - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Motivational tool.
Hah, you're so right. I never even had occasion to utter that phrase again, at least not while working for her. With that Round Tuit hanging in my cube, I made a point of getting around to all the other "its" that she assigned to me and my crew, believe me, even the little stuff that tends to fall through the cracks.
She was fair as far as actual reasons for not bringing a job in on time, but she never wanted to hear such an unoriginal excuse as "not having gotten around to it" at a staff meeting.
Turns out I wasn't the only one who was awarded a round tuit on her watch at our shop. With the subsequent ones she dished out, she sometimes added "Just because you're not on the carpet in here on a given day doesn't mean you shouldn't be paying attention." I ended up happy to have been the first beneficiary, when the award was done in a rather lighthearted manner and fetched a lot of laughs to distract from my embarrassment. The ones handed out later got mostly the sound of papers being shuffled and folks shifting in their seats. I had to pinch myself to keep from laughing...
22Apr20 Added:
- Bees Knees- Urban Dictionary. As in: your the bees knees! When bees flit from flower to flower the nectar sticks to their legs. The phrase "bee's knees" means sweet and good, because the knees of the bee are where all the sweet, good stuff is collected.
Added to post 1:
- Hoisted by one’s own Petard- means to fall foul of your own deceit or fall into your own trap. (Huntn). Link. This term has its origin in medieval times when a military commander would send forward one of his engineers with a cast-iron container full of gunpowder, called a petard, to blow up a castle gate, obstacle, or bridge. The fuses on these bombs were very unreliable, and sometimes the engineers would be killed when the petards exploded prematurely. The explosion would blow (or hoist) the engineer into the air.
This came up in an online discussion “an education” versus “a education”. I stick with using “an” before words that start with vowels. Agree?
The other usage of "jonesing" is the 'Keeping up with Joneses', that is buying things which others have and are thus coveted to be 'like everyone else'.
Another expression I heard often when working in aerospace/defense contracts was "S*** runs downhill" meaning bad or unpleasant news/decisions typically came from upper management. Its' origin was from a military context I believe as many of my co-workers at the time had military service.