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Questions about the history and trends of the English language.

9 votes

What is the origin of the phrase, "Put two and two together?"

The earliest uses I can find are 1816 and 1820 and include the four. Here's Charles Taylor in 1816, in Facts and evidences on the subject of Baptism in three additional letters: How slightly do s …
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6 votes
Accepted

When was “Uh huh” invented? is “Uh huh” a formal English?

The OED has it from a 1924 Dialect Notes: Uh-húh, yes. But as a part of speech, it will have been used much before that and will be hard to find in print, although I did find an 1858 in the White Cl …
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2 votes

What is “Who are ya?” and whence it came?

"Who are ya?" is a rhetorical question asking the other, lowly team to justify their presence at a match or level they don't deserve to play at. It's a mark of lack of repect to the other team. Yes, i …
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1 vote

Any idea of the origin of using the term 'gucci' for parts?

The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2008) says: Gucci adjective stylish, especially cleverly so. From the high-profile fashion brand UK, 1995 Searching Goog …
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2 votes

Where does the phrase "cool your jets" come from?

The OED says the phrase "cool your jets", meaning to calm down or become less agitated, is originally US and the first quoted in a newspaper: 1973 Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids) 29 Jan. 1/1 …
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9 votes
Accepted

What is the earliest recorded pun in the English language?

(Ecclesiastical History, Book II, Chapter 1), and already by the end of the period the incompetent and hapless King Æþelræd ("Noble Counsel") had acquired the nickname Unræd ("Bad Counsel") - whence the … Bede completed the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (in English: * Ecclesiastical History of the English People*) by around 731. …
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8 votes

The history of "softcore"

Hardcore There are three definitions in the OED that show the progression of hardcore. First, hard-core is the rough bits of stuff used as building foundations, with a quote from 1851: The phrase ‘ha …
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3 votes

Etymology of the "Chicago Seven" construction

1879... Checking Wikipedia's Quantified groups of defendants, the oldest is the Blue Eyed Six from 1879, but they were coincidentally all blue-eyed. Here's a contemporary newspaper report. 1931? Th …
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20 votes

Where did the "unavailable" meaning of "Out of Pocket" come from?

The Oxford English Dictionary says out of pocket meaning "out of reach, absent, unavailable" dates back to the US of the early 20th century: 1908 ‘O. Henry’ Buried Treasure in Ainslee's July 69/ …
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15 votes
Accepted

Did 'fornication' ever mean vaulting?

Yes, fornication once did mean arching or vaulting in English. The OED has it dating from 1703 in Richard Neve's The city and countrey purchaser, and builder's dictionary: or, The compleat builder's g …
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3 votes
Accepted

History of the phrase "olden days"

According to Google's Books Ngram Viewer, the phrase was coined some time around 1800 and peaked around 1930: The oldest reference I could find for "olden days" is the 1805 Tobias: a poem : in thre …
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12 votes
Accepted

When was "antimatter" first used?

1898, Arthur Schuster Schuster is credited with coining the concept of "antimatter" in two letters to Nature in 1898. He hypothesized antiatoms, and whole antimatter solar systems, which would yield …
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14 votes
Accepted

Are curly braces ever used in normal text? If not, why were they created?

For example, this 2011 edition of The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday has in a "Note on the Published Text": Crookes, as editor, inculated into the text of Faraday's words short descriptions …
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8 votes
Accepted

Origin of the word "Bluechip"

The dictionary In gambling and poker, a blue-coloured counter represents a large amount of money. This meaning goes back to at least 1873, according to the OED: 1873 J. D. McCabe Behind Scenes in W …
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45 votes
1 answer
7k views

In old books, why is the first word of the next page printed at the bottom of this page?

In old books from the 16th to 18th centuries, the first word from the next page is often printed right justified on its own, at the end of the current page. It's not in every book of this period, but …
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