LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

by the early 20th century. Could the phrase have first referred to weather temperatures? Conversely, there is also (an) all-time high, but perhaps less frequently. ‘Brings cost of power to new all-time low’ – Saturday Evening Post (10 June 1933); ‘British prestige sunk to yet another all-time low’ is included in the parody of sportswriters’ clichés by David Frost and Peter Cook included in the book That Was The Week That Was (1963); ‘A new all-time low in political scurviness, hoodlumism’ – Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (1970); ‘Tory MP Phil Gallie was even prompted to predict the party could gain a seat, despite pundits’ claims of likely Tory losses and the party’s crushing all-time low of 13% in the polls’ – The Sunday Times (1 May 1994); ‘What is also significant about BP’s share rise to 386p last week is that it has brought the prospect of a serious assault on the all-time high of 418p much nearer the day’ – The Observer (1 May 1994).

      all we want is the facts, ma’am (or just the facts, ma’am). From the American TV series Dragnet (1951–8, revived 1967–9). Sgt Joe Friday (played by Jack Webb) had a staccato style of questioning. These were probably the first big phrases to catch on in Britain after the start of commercial TV in 1955. The phrase ‘all we want is the facts’ was, however, already a cliché when importunate journalists were represented in theatrical sketches. In ‘Long-Distance Divorce’, a revue sketch from Nine Sharp (1938), Herbert Farjeon put the phrase in the mouth of a British reporter interviewing a Hollywood star.

      all women look the same in the dark Contemptuous male view of women as sexual objects – sometimes, ‘they all the look the same in the dark’. An established view by the mid-20th century at least. The least politically correct phrase in this book. Compare the similar expression you don’t look at the mantelpiece when you’re poking the fire (an old joke revived by John Osborne in The Entertainer, 1957); Ovid’s more felicitous and diplomatic version in his Ars Amatoria (circa 2 BC); ‘The dark makes every woman beautiful’; and the English proverb (known by 1546), ‘All cats are grey in the dark’. Robert Herrick appeared to say much the same in ‘No Difference i’ th’ Dark’ (1648): ‘Night makes no difference ‘twixt the Priest and the Clerk; / Joan as my Lady is as good i’ th’ dark.’

      (the) almighty dollar An early indication of the currency’s all-powerful role in American life. ‘The almighty dollar is the only object of worship’ – Philadelphia Public Ledger (2 December 1836). In fact, this possible first use of the term ‘almighty dollar’ had just been preceded by Washington Irving’s statement in Knickerbocker Magazine (12 November 1836): ‘The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land.’ Mark Twain took up the theme in his Notebooks (1935): ‘We Americans worship the almighty dollar! Well, it is a worthier god than Hereditary Privilege.’ Earlier, Ben Jonson in his poem ‘Epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland’ from The Forest (1616) wrote of ‘almighty gold’.

      almost a gentleman Bill matter (i.e. the descriptive line that appeared on posters) of the British music-hall comedian Billy Bennett (1887–1942). John Osborne took it as the title of his second volume of memoirs (1991). Compare Daisy Ashford, The Young Visiters, Chap. 1 (1919): ‘I am not quite a gentleman but you would hardly notice it but can’t be helped anyhow.’

      along came a spider The title of a cop film (US 2001) starring Morgan Freeman is taken from the nursery rhyme ‘Little Miss Muffet’, known since 1805 and containing the lines (properly), ‘There came a big spider / Who sat down beside her / And frightened Miss Muffet away.’ ‘Along came a spider’ is the more usual American version, however. People like to think that Miss Muffet was Patience, the daughter of Dr Thomas Muffet, an entomologist who died in 1604. If he had been an arachnologist, that would have been even neater.

      altered See CASE IS.

      altered states Where drugs take you to. Altered States is the title of a novel (1979; film US 1980) by Paddy Chayevsky (screen credit as ‘Sidney Aaron’). This is a sci-fi thriller about genetic experimentation or, as one of the film guides puts it, about a ‘psychophysiologist who hallucinates himself back into primitive states of human evolution, in which guise he emerges to kill’. Might there be a connection with what Dr Albert Hofmann observed of his discovery, the psychedelic drug LSD? He noted in his diary for 1943: ‘An intense stimulation of the imagination and an altered state of awareness of the world.’

      although I says it as shouldn’t Phrase of excuse before uttering an indiscretion. Since the 17th century.

      always leave them wanting more Proverbial expression in the world of entertainment. From The Independent (8 May 1996): ‘Franz Welser-Möst will doubtless have seen the irony in stepping down as music director of the London Philharmonic with a Requiem…But there is an old theatrical adage that says “Always leave them wanting more”. And – surprise, surprise – I do believe he has.’

      always merry and bright The British comedian Alfred Lester (1872–1925) is principally associated with this phrase, although it crops up in all sorts of other places. As ‘Peter Doody’, a lugubrious jockey in the Lionel Monckton/Howard Talbot/Arthur Wimperis musical comedy The Arcadians (1909), he had it as his motto in a song, ‘My Motter’. Punch quoted the phrase on 26 October 1910. Somerset Maugham in a letter to a friend (1915) wrote: ‘I am back on a fortnight’s leave, very merry and bright, but frantically busy – I wish it were all over.’ An edition of The Magnet from 1920 carried an ad for Merry and Bright – a comic paper. P. G. Wodehouse used the phrase in The Indiscretions of Archie (1921). Larry Grayson suggested that it was used as the billing for Billy Danvers (1884–1964), the British variety entertainer, and so it was, but he may also have used ‘Cheeky, Cheery and Chubby’.

      always partridge See SEMPER PERDRIX.

      always steer towards the gunfire Tackle matters head on. Originally from naval warfare. Or is it ‘head towards’?

      always true to you in my fashion The song with this title by Cole Porter from Kiss Me Kate (1948) echoes, consciously or unconsciously, the line ‘I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion’ from the poem ‘Non Sum Qualis Eram’ (1896) by Ernest Dowson.

      always verify your references In 1949 Winston Churchill gave an inaccurate account to the House of Commons of when he had first heard the words ‘unconditional surrender’ from President Roosevelt. Subsequently, in his The Second World War, Vol. 4 (1951), Churchill wrote: ‘It was only when I got home and searched my archives that I found the facts as they have been set out here. I am reminded of the professor who in his declining hours was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, “Verify your quotations”.’ Well, not exactly a ‘professor’, and not exactly his dying words, and not ‘quotations’ either. Dr Martin Routh (1755–1854) was President of Magdalen College, Oxford, for sixty-three years. Of the many stories told about Routh, Churchill was groping towards the one where he was asked what precept could serve as a rule of life to an aspiring young man. Said Routh: ‘You will find it a very good practice always to verify your references, Sir!’ The story was first recorded in this form in July 1878, as Churchill and his amanuenses might themselves have verified. In 1847, Routh gave the advice to John Burgon, later a noted Dean of Chichester, who ascribed it to Routh in an article in the Quarterly Review (and subsequently in his Lives of Twelve Good Men, 1888 edn). Perhaps Churchill was recalling instead the Earl of Rosebery’s version, given in a speech on 23 November 1897: ‘Another confirmation of the advice given by one aged sage to somebody who sought his guidance in life, namely, “Always wind up your watch and verify your quotations”.’

      amaze me! See ASTONISH ME.

      amazing grace Most people are familiar with the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ from the great popular success it had when sung and recorded by Judy Collins in the early 1970s. The

Скачать книгу