Shorter Dictionary Of Catch Phrases

Shorter Dictionary of Catch Phrases The Partridge Collection A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Eric Partridge Edited by Paul Beale Eighth Edition ISBN 0-415-06568-2 (hb) A Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English Edited by Paul Beale Based on the work of Eric Partridge ISBN 0-415-06352-3 (pb) Origins: An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English Eric Partridge Fourth Edition ISBN 0-415-05077-4 (hb) A Dictionary of Catch Phrases Eric Partridge Edited by Paul Beale Second Edition ISBN 0-415-05916-X (pb) A Dictionary of Clichés Eric Partridge Fifth Edition ISBN 0-415-06555-0 (pb) Shakespeare’s Bawdy Eric Partridge Third Edition ISBN 0-415-05076-6 (pb) Shorter Slang Dictionary Rosalind Fergusson From the work of Eric Partridge & Paul Beale ISBN 0-415-08866-6 (pb) You Have a Point There Eric Partridge ISBN 0-415-05075-8 (pb) Shorter Dictionary of Catch Phrases Rosalind Fergusson From the work of Eric Partridge and Paul Beale London and New York First published 1994 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © Routledge 1994 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0-203-38012-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-38629-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-10051-8 (Print Edition) Foreword This volume has been derived from the magisterial work of Eric Partridge and his collaborator and successor Paul Beale. Most of the entries have been adapted from material in the second edition (1985) of the classic A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, although articles have also been specially written for items that came into currency in the 1990s. The focus throughout is on expressions that are in current daily use, and familiar throughout most parts of the English-speaking world. Items originating in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all to be found within these covers. We at Routledge are proud to publish this companion volume to the Shorter Dictionary of Slang (1993) as a tribute to Eric Partridge on the occasion of the centenary of his birth on 6 February 1894. A Abyssinia! a pun on ‘I’ll be seeing you!’. It probably predates the Abyssinian War of 1935–6 and may have arisen from the British campaign of 1899 against the ‘Mad Mullah’ or from General Napier’s expedition of 1868. Similar puns include Alaska (=I’ll ask her) and Jamaica (=did you make her). accidentally on purpose apparently accidental, but really—and often maliciously—on purpose. The phrase has been used in the UK since around 1880 and in the USA since around 1885. accidents will happen in the best-regulated families see it happens in the best-regulated (or best of) families. according to plan used ironically for anything, however trivial, that does not go according to plan. In World War I communi