Formerly Known as The Rights of Fans
A drunken aristocrat, a Leicestershire market town and an extraordinary quantity of red paint. In 1837, the notorious Mad Marquis and his companions embarked on a spectacular evening of vandalism that may have given us one of Britain's best-loved expressions. But how much of the story is historical fact, and how much has become colourful folklore over the years?
Today, reading someone the Riot Act usually means a stern telling-off from a parent, teacher or furious football manager. But the original expression carried a rather more terrifying threat. Under an eighteenth-century British law, an official could order a crowd to disperse, and anyone refusing to obey could face the gallows. It was no idle warning either.
From nineteenth-century British soldiers stranded in India to everyday British conversation, the expression ‘going doolally’ has a fascinating history. Discover how boredom, illness and military slang gave us one of our most wonderfully peculiar descriptions of eccentric behaviour.
“I'm not a racist, but…” Six words that invariably warn you something unpleasant is coming. From pub philosophers to casual conversations, this familiar expression attempts to disguise prejudice as reasonable opinion. But who is really being fooled? A look at the origins, contradictions and extraordinary staying power of one of the English language's most revealing conversational disclaimers.
From a cholesterol-laden Full English breakfast to unemployed Sheffield steelworkers stripping naked, few expressions are as wonderfully British as ‘the full monty’. But where did it originate? Field Marshal Montgomery, a famous tailoring empire or something altogether different? Discover the curious history of three words that conquered the world.
“As fit as a butcher’s dog” is one of those unmistakably British expressions whose meaning is obvious even if its origins are not. From nineteenth-century slang to sport, politics and modern double meanings, it is a phrase that has proved remarkably durable.
A phrase that has survived our supermarket dash to knock the beauty, life and expressions from our wonderful language, to sacrifice at the altar of political expediency.
by Chris Harris Splitting Hairs: Why We Still Love This Centuries-Old Idiom We all know a hair-splitter. You say the meeting started at ten o’clock and they point out that it actually started at 10:02. You say a politician broke a promise and someone replies that technically it wasn’t a promise, it was a commitment. … Continue reading Popular Idioms and Phrases: Splitting Hairs