Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 22

Day 22

Well blow me down (with a feather).

“’Well, blow me down,’ he says, ‘I was unlocking the door the other night when I heard a faint thud in the garden.’ — Mike Madden of Honley on finding a ‘meteorite’ in his garden. Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 31 Oct 2014

“Stonehenge was circular? Well, blow me down.” — The Guardian, 1 Sep 2014

An expression of astonishment. As World Wide Words explains, the expression “can be traced to Britain near the end of the eighteenth century. There seem to have been at least two strands to its creation, in both cases the verb being in the sense of the wind blowing. One was a sailor’s oath, blow me down!, roughly meaning “may a gale strike me!” … The other early form was blow me tight! which might suggest inflating a balloon to the point of explosion, but which could be related to an older sense of blow for speaking loudly or angrily or uttering boastful language.”

Also:

I’ll be blowed: “Imagine that eh, well I’ll be blowed, over paid 2nd rate actors playing a childish game, that needs to have it’s profile lifted. Any advertisement is good I suppose. What better way than to involve a law suit or 2. But the chocolateer has done the right thing to save his bacon.” — comment on an article about a chocolatier who refused to write a boy’s first name on a chocolate Easter egg for fear of Wayne Rooney suing for breach of copyright (sic) on Yahoo Sport, 15 April 2014

Well I’m blowed: “This week I found out he is quitting the chat show, saying he felt it was time to move on and he had some exciting new projects ahead. Well, I’m blowed.  I’m minded not to  book that ticket  for Madame Tussaud’s, to add a touch of my Guerlain lippie to the Titchmarsh, after all.” — Lynne Mortimer interviewing Alan Titchmarsh, East Anglian Daily Times, 26 March 2014

Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 21

Day 21

How’s your father.

“Lady Mary and Lord Gillingham are still technically going steady, despite neither of them wanting to stay together, purely down to the fact that they once had some ‘how’s your father’.” — Digital Spy, Nov 3, 2014

“Office-induced stress, high blood pressure, heavy drinking brought on by the aforementioned stress, being handbagged by the wife for indulging in a bit of workplace-based how’s-yer-father, the list goes on.” — Lancashire Evening Post, Oct 22, 2014

A jocular term for copulation. World Wide Words traces it back to the fertile imagination of the music-hall comedian Harry Tate, whose catchphrase was picked up by servicemen in the First World War.

Also:

Shag: “Married men and women who try to pass off a one night stand as an ‘opportunistic shag‘ are often in denial about the state of their primary relationship.” — Huffington Post UK, Nov 12, 2014

Roger. From the mid 17th to the late 19th centuries, roger was slang for penis, probably because the name’s origin involved fame with a spear. Subsequently “to roger” became a slang verb form meaning “to have sex with”.

Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 20

Day 20

To live at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

“News that notorious police killer Harry Roberts could be released from prison within days could make for a more shocking ending. Roberts is to walk free after 48 years living at Her Majesty’s pleasure, despite being told by a judge he should never be released.” — Burton Mail, 23 Oct 2014

To do time. In jail (or gaol, as some Brits still prefer to call it). To be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure (or at His Majesty’s pleasure, if the reigning monarch is a king) officially refers to the indeterminate length of service of certain appointed officials or the indeterminate sentences of some prisoners.

Also:

Doing porridge: “Toff’s guide to doing porridge. Prison is dangerous for toffs, writes Yvonne Ridley. Here are a few survival rules for high society criminals.” — The Observer, 5 June 1999

Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 19

Day 19

Spend a penny.

“Brad Pitt gave a local war hero the red carpet treatment when he invited him to a screening of his latest film. Peter Comfort from Ripple, Dover, had helped the world-famous actor get into character for the blockbuster, called Fury. … Pitt turned to the 91-year-old for advice when filming in Hertfordshire. Mr Comfort said: “They wanted a lot of information to make it accurate and fired a lot of questions at me. Luckily there weren’t any questions I didn’t know the answer to. They wanted to know where we slept, where we spent a penny, the living conditions and what it was like in action, so I told them.” — Dover Express, 23 Oct 2014

To pee. A reference to coin-operated pay toilets, which used to charge that sum before decimalization.

Also:

Going to see my aunt

Going to see a man about a dog

Take a slash

Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 18

Day 18

Bent as a nine-bob note.

“And Geordie and Sidney learn that if you’re a policeman or a vicar, you’re never truly off duty. Claudette, Johnny’s sister has been murdered, devastating everyone close to her. … Geordie immediately sniffs out that the London copper is as bent as a nine bob note, whilst Sidney makes a huge discovery about Claudette that she kept from all but those closest to her.” — STV, 3 Nov 2014

Dishonest. The reference comes from pre-decimalization in the UK (1971), when a ten-shilling (ten bob) note was valid currency but there was no such thing as a nine-shilling note.

Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 17

Day 17

(This is a squid, not a squib)

Damp squib.

“Even when I moved to London, despite the introduction of stricter laws on fireworks by then, there was a touch of rebelliousness about the night. Every year was a challenge to see the official displays without having to pay for them. Once you had your spot … the whole city stretched out before you, smelling of gunpowder and celebrating its revolutionary past. This year, however, November 5 is looking like a damp squib, since I’ll be in Amsterdam. There will be no DIY bonfires here – although the occasion is marked by expats, the sale of fireworks is limited by law in the Netherlands and the only opportunities to celebrate are at organised events.” — The Telegraph, 4 Nov 2014

“Crystal Pite’s stunning new Polaris ends this evening of dance to music by Thomas Adès on a thrilling high – and by then, it needs it. With Adès playing and conducting his own works, it’s a musically rich, dense programme. In dance terms, Pite turns it from a damp squib into a hit.” — The Independent, 12 Nov 2014

Something that fails ignominiously to satisfy expectations; an anti-climax, a disappointment. The Phrase Finder has the scoop on its origins.

Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 16

Day 16

Sweet Fanny Adams.

“Every expat in LA has to decide which way they’re going to go at some point, and it seems a hell of a lot easier to potter around muttering away about sweet Fanny Adams, barge poles and seeing a man about a dog than to adopt a ghastly transatlantic whine, have the fat sucked out of my thighs and injected back into my lips (so that I’m literally – to borrow from one American humorist – ‘kissing ass’).” — Celia Walden in the Daily Telegraph, 6 Nov 2014

In 1869, British seamen started getting new rations of tinned mutton. Distinctly unimpressed by this foodstuff, and possessed of a dark humor, the sailors joked that it must be the butchered remains of Fanny Adams, the victim of a brutal murder a couple of years earlier. Her name, with “sweet” in front of it, quickly became a euphemism for ‘sweet nothing’ throughout the armed services, and eventually passed into general usage. For Brits, it means zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Sod all. Its abbreviated version, “Sweet F. A.”, can also translate to the more vulgar “sweet f*** all”.

The Curtis Museum in Alton tells the full grisly story of sweet Fanny Adams.

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Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 15

Day 15

To jack something in.

“It’s not even nine months since Johnny Murtagh retired from a riding career that confirmed him one of the greatest jockeys this country has ever produced. … That he jacked it in at 43 was a surprise, but only to an extent, considering the context of a life spent battling weight.” — Irish Times, 3 Nov 2014

According to Wikipedia, “in the British idiom, the object may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.”

To give up or chuck something in — like a job, or studies.

When the definite article isn’t very definite

“Lennon, Mailer’s friend and authorized biographer, told me that McAlice, whom he described as having “Joycean gifts,” once took the bus to Provincetown to visit Mailer.” — Boston Globe

The flu normally lasts a week, sometimes two. But if that time comes and goes and you’re still miserable and showing symptoms, head to the doctor.” — Kansas First News

“If counting down the last minutes before the new year lying on the couch in a blissful food coma seems like your style, consider one of these celebratory meals.” — Sacramento Bee

The is our definite article: we use it to refer to a specific thing (i.e. a noun) whose identity is clear to everyone reading or listening because of logic, common assumption, or a clause that explains it. “Please take the chocolate biscuit.” “I don’t like the hat she’s wearing.” But curiously there are times when we use the and we’re not being specific, as in the press examples above. Why didn’t McAlice take a bus (since we have no idea which bus he actually took)? Shouldn’t the Kansas First News be directing us towards a doctor (surely we can’t all go to the same one)? How does the Sacramento Bee know which couch is our favorite?

We would say that we’re popping out to get a sandwich (because how would anyone know what bread or fillers we’re going to choose when we get to the counter to order? So an indefinite article is definitely in order here). But when I tell my friend I’m taking my cat to the vet, do I really expect them to know which vet I’ll be consulting? The answer is almost certainly no, so why do we use the in these instances?

As Fowler’s Modern English Usage explains, “[The] is frequently used in a non-specific way to mean ‘whichever one of its kind is or was convenient, open, etc.’: I go to the cinema once a year, he heard it on the radio, she took the train to London.”

OK, I’m off to make the sandwich. (And by that, I mean the one that will be most convenient to make using the contents of my fridge.) Have the good day.

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Glosso’s advent: Baubles of Britishisms – Dec 14

Day 14

Up the duff.

“But whatever Christmas and New Year have in store for Weatherfield it seems tradition that someone either gives birth or dies at this time of year, and as none of the characters are up the duff, it is likely someone is about to meet their untimely demise on the cobbles.” — from a TV soap preview in the Manchester Evening News, Oct 20, 2014

Knocked up. i.e., pregnant. (See Glossophilia’s earlier post on pregnant words.) As Phrase Finder explains, “One of the numerous slang terms for the sexual organs, or more commonly specifically the penis, is pudding. … Dough is another word for pudding and duff is an alternative form and pronunciation of dough.”

Also: up the spout*: “Euan, Kathryn and Nicholas Blair, the children of the ex-PM, 58, had to endure the horror of knowing that their parents still Did It even though they’re old, when Cherie, 57, got up the spout with Leo at 45.” — Daily Mirror, 15 Nov. 2011

In the club.

In the pudding club. “Paula Lane Pregnant With First Baby: Just a couple of weeks after Jennie McAlpine (Fiz Stape) announced her pregnancy, we find out that another Corrie actress is also in the pudding club.” — Coronation Street blog, 5 June 2014

* Up the spout has another meaning: no longer working, or unlikely to be useful or successful. World Wide Words has the scoop.