5
It depends.
In British English, according to Wikipedia, you would call it the turn of the 20th century. The turn of the 20th century includes the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
In American English it can be as above, but it could also be referred to as the turn of the 19th century, i.e. viewing it as the century turning from the ...
4
To be exact, an object that attains more attention and importance than it deserves can be called "overrated" in a single word.
"Overestimated importance" is an expression that can fulfill the same linguistic function.
3
Both
The turn of a new century refers to the end and beginning of the new century. For your example (1899), it would signal the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
3
I would say that such pie-charts are of spurious value.
OED meaning of spurious - sense 3 is the important one:
Superficially resembling or simulating, but lacking the genuine character or qualities of, something; not true or genuine; false, sham, counterfeit:
2
The generalized "town [description]" effectively means "the person who is the biggest/best [description] in their/my town". Examples:
Town drunk, i.e. the person in a town who is known to be a drunkard.
Village idiot, i.e. the biggest (well-known) idiot in the village.
Hottie simply means "an attractive person" (most commonly a woman, but not exclusively ...
2
The term that comes to mind is fool's gold. "Something that seems more promising than it really is."
1
Exultation = the act of exulting; lively or triumphant joy, as over success or victory (Dictionary.com).
Elation = a feeling or state of great joy or pride; exultant gladness; high spirits (Dictionary.com).
Triumph = the joy or exultation of victory or success (Merriam-Webster).
Festivity = An experience or expression of celebratory feeling, merriment, ...
1
Let us
"Let's" is a contraction of "Let us". Expand that, and the sentence is pretty straightforward.
Don't let us get you cheap
The meaning here is the literal meaning, but to understand it, you have to see the line in context. The character who says this, Barbara, is trying to get the other character, Bill, to mend his ways and join the Salvation Army.
...
1
You should consider the word "in" to have a better understanding, therefore the sentence would be "to be in" that is a very common idiom to refer to something that is inside somewhere.
I think this link will help you
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/be+in
1
How about boondoggle?
noun
1.
work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.
"writing off the cold fusion phenomenon as a boondoggle best buried in literature"
1
HOMOGRAPHS are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Heteronyms are a type of homograph that are also spelled the same and have different meanings, but sound different.
source
1
The expression "pork chop in a can" is one I heard years before any of the dates mentioned in previous answers. It was a common reference to drinking ones supper.
1
It seems to me that most of these answers are correct to a degree. I became interested in the phrase after coming across it in the folk-song "Mick Maguire". Here is the last verse (or last refrain):
Johnny come up to the fire come up you're sitting in the draught/
Can't you see it's ould Maguire and he nearly drives me daft/
Sure I don't know what gets into ...
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