IDIOM OF THE DAY

[rufusredtail]

LOCK.STOCK.AND BARREL including everything; completely.    lock stock and barrel refers literally to the complete mechanism of a firearm.

[Alan]

Idiot of the day!!! With recent events in America this is a pretty dumb post........

[sao baht]

The Dog's bollocks

Meaning

Excellent - the absolute apex. In other contexts the word bollocks (meaning testicles) has a negative connotation; for example:

 - 'that's bollocks' -> 'that's rubbish'
 - 'give him a bollocking' -> 'chastise him'
 - 'He dropped a bollock' -> 'he made a mistake'

The reasons why the 'dog's bollocks' are considered to be the top of the tree aren't clear. It may be linked to an associated phrase - 'stand out like a dog's balls', i.e. 'outstanding', although I can find no evidence to indicate that phrase as being earlier than the 'dog's bollocks'. Dogs do enjoy licking their genitals of course but again, there's no evidence that links the coining of this phrase to that. It is most likely that this is just a nonsense phrase, coined because it sounds good. In that, it would join a long list of earlier nonsense phrases, e.g. 'the cat's pyjamas', 'the bee's knees' etc.
Origin

The word bollocks, meaning testicles has been part of the language since the 18th century, but didn't become used to mean nonsense until the early 20th century. The 'dog's bollocks' seems to have originated in Britain in the first half of the 20th century. Eric Partridge recorded it in Edition 3 of A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 1949:

"Dog's ballocks, the typographical colon-dash (:-)."

That printer's term, although graphic, didn't have any associations with excellence and probably isn't the source of term as we use it today. It is more likely that the origin lies in a late 20th century reviving of the post WWI period outbreak of exuberant coinages. At that time many nonsense terms for excellent which involved the animal world were coined - cat's pyjamas, cat's whiskers, bee's knees etc.

In the 1980s the scurrilous magazine Viz used 'dog's bollocks' frequently; for example, they used it in the title of an issue in 1989:

"Viz - The Dog's Bollocks: The Best of Issues 26 to 31."

 Viz's writer's didn't coint the term though - they frequently latched on to any vaguely obscene street slang and printed it. They were preceded in print by P. Brewis et al. in Gambler (cassette tape sleeve notes), circa 1986:

"They are of the opinion that, when it comes to Italian opera, Pavarotti is the dog's bollocks."

Who coined the phrase we aren't ever likely to know - it was most probably a street slang term that became established in common usage well before it ever got into print.

'Bollocks' has long had street cred as a swearword amongst the English young. The Sex Pistols' 1977 album 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols', no doubt brought the word to greater prominence

The Phrase Finder

[rufusredtail]

LOGGERHEADS

This expressions possibly a use of loggerhead in the late 17 century sense of 'a long -handled iron instrument for heating liquids annd tar' ; the tool was perhaps used as a weapon

[rufusredtail]

STUMP 
Beyond the black stump     Australian
beyond the limits of settled,and therefore civilized.life.

This phrase comes from the custom of using a fire-blackened stump of wood as a marker when giving directions to travellers.

[sao baht]

A COCK UP


Meaning     A blunder; a confused situation.


Origin

The British expression 'cock-up' isn't commonly used in the USA, where it is generally assumed to have a vulgar meaning. What they might make of Robert Burns' poem, which took the name of the old Scottish rhyme 'Cock up your beaver', is best left to the imagination. What Burns was actually referring to was adorning a beaver fur hat by putting a cock's feather into it.

'Cock', in the sense of this term, means 'stand up conspicuously', 'turn up at the edge', 'bend at an angle' etc. This is the sense of the early usage of the term 'cock-up', in the terms 'cock-up one's ears', 'cock-up one's nose'. In the 17th and 18th centuries people were also often advised to 'cock-up' their bonnets, eyes, even legs. The expression 'cock a snook' also derives from that same sense of 'cock'.

[rufusredtail]

CLOUD
On cloud nine
i On cloud nine refers to a ten-part classification of clouds in which nine was the second highest. A dated variant of the expression is on cloud seven.

[candy]

Bollocks, what a load of bollocks



From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, bollocks or ballocks was allegedly used as a slang term for a clergyman. For example, in 1864, the Commanding Officer of the Straits Fleet regularly referred to his chaplain as "Ballocks". It has been suggested that bollocks came to have its modern meaning of "nonsense" because clergymen were notorious for talking nonsense during their sermons.

 

[sao baht]

As happy as Larry

Meaning      Very happy.


Origin

Larry - certainly the best known character in the world of similes. The expression he instigated is most likely to be of Australian or New Zealand origin. The earliest printed reference currently known is from the New Zealand writer G. L. Meredith, dating from around 1875:

"We would be as happy as Larry if it were not for the rats".

Almost all the other early citations are from Australia or New Zealand; for example, this from Tom Collins (the pen name of the popular Australian writer Joseph Furphy), in Barrier Truth, 1903:

"Now that the adventure was drawing to an end, I found a peace of mind that all the old fogies on the river couldn't disturb. I was as happy as Larry."

But who was Larry? There are two commonly espoused contenders. One is the Australian boxer Larry Foley (1847 - 1917). Foley was a successful pugilist who never lost a fight. He retired at 32 and collected a purse of £1,000 for his final fight. So, we can expect that he was known to be happy with his lot in the 1870s - just when the phrase is first cited.

The alternative explanation is that it relates to the Cornish and later Australian/New Zealand slang term 'larrikin', meaning a rough type or hooligan, i.e. one predisposed to larking about. 'Larrikin' would have been a term that Meredith would have known - the earliest printed reference is also from New Zealand and around the time of the first citation, in H. W. Harper's Letters from New Zealand, 1868:

"We are beset with larrikins, who lurk about in the darkness and deliver every sort of attack on the walls and roof with stones and sticks."

[rufusredtail]

THUMBS UP (OR DOWN)
an indication of satisfaction or approval.

i The thumbs were used to signal approval or disapproval by spectators at a Roman amphitheatre,though they used `thumbs down` to sinify that a beaten gladiator had performed well and should be spared, and `thumbs up` to call for his death.

[urleft]

PLUCK YOU

The 100 Years War (which actually lasted 116 years) was a bloody war fought between the British and the French. This was the first war in which long range artillery was used, and the first deadly long range weapon to be invented was the longbow, which was invented by the British. The longbow had an effective accurate range of about 300 feet.

The longbowmen were not the most battle worthy men, as they were usually trained to shoot an arrow long distances, and not to fight with close range weapons. The longbow was used in an almost machine gun like fashion. The archer would stick all of his arrows in the ground in order to get to them quickly. He would grab an arrow and quickly shoot at the approaching army, then quickly reload and fire again. He would use his index and ring finger to draw and fire the bow. This was known as “plucking”, as it resembled plucking a stringed instrument.

The French hated the longbow. Whenever a longbowman was captured, the French would cut of their index and ring fingers, so they couldn’t fire their weapons, and hence be useless to the war.

The captured English prisoners returned with nothing left but their middle fingers, and in a short period of time learned to use their middle finger to draw their longbows, and “pluck” once again.

Before one battle, the French, knowing they had their opponent greatly outnumbered (around six to one), had a grand party the night before the battle was to begin. Realizing this, the English attacked early the next morning, surprising the French, and destroying their advantage. As the English realized their victory, they began their victory celebrations while still waging a victorious battle.

One of the most notable celebrations was the dancing and cheering done by the mutilated longbowmen. They would dance and skip around the dead and wounded Frenchmen, showing them their only remaining useful finger (their middle finger), and yelling (in a British accent), “Look! I still have me middle fingah! I can still pluck you!!! I can still pluck you!!!”
This phrase was later modified to something else we say when we give someone the finger…
 
So the next time someone gives you the finger and says what they normally say, correct them by saying, “Actually, the correct term is pluck you!”, and see what kind of results you get!

It is also because of the pheasant or goose feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "Giving the Bird."

“Look! I still have me middle fingah! I can still pluck you!!! I can still pluck you!!!”

[rufusredtail]

SOW YOUR WILD OATSgo through a period of wild or promiscuous behaviour while young
[/fon
i Wild oats are weeds found in cornfields which resemble cultivated oats; spending time sowing them would be foolish or useless activity.The expression has been current since the late 16th century; from the mid 16th to the early 17th century,wild oat was also used as a term for a dissolute young man.

[rufusredtail]

COVENTRY
SEND  SOMEONE TO COVENTRY
I This expression,which dates from the mid 18 century,is thought by some to stem from the extreme unpopularity of soldiers stationed in Coventry, who were cut off socially by the citizens. Another suggestion is that the phrase arose because Royalist prisioners were sent to Coventry during the English Civil War , the city being staunchly Parliamentarian

[sao baht]

COVENTRY
SEND  SOMEONE TO COVENTRY
I This expression,which dates from the mid 18 century,is thought by some to stem from the extreme unpopularity of soldiers stationed in Coventry, who were cut off socially by the citizens. Another suggestion is that the phrase arose because Royalist prisioners were sent to Coventry during the English Civil War , the city being staunchly Parliamentarian

Isn't Nookie from Coventry 

[rufusredtail]

READ THE RIOT ACT
give someone a strong warning that they must improve their behaviour.

i The Riot Act was paseed by the British government in 1715 in the wake of Jacobite rebellion of that year and was designed to prevent civil disorder. The Act made it a felony for a group of twelve or more people to refuse to disperse after being ordered to do so and having being read a certain part of the Act by a person in authority.It was not repealed untill 1967.