Dec 1, 2015 · According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it comes from "fag", meaning a loose piece of cloth:. fag (n.1) Look up fag at Dictionary.com British slang for "cigarette" (originally, especially, the butt of a smoked cigarette), 1888, probably from fag "loose piece, last remnant of cloth" (late 14c., as in fag-end "extreme end, loose piece," 1610s), which perhaps is related to …

One more colorful slang term I gleaned from the British movie I recently watched is slag. In the movie, it was used in curses like, "Fuck-ing dogs! Slags." "Right slag, that one." Now I know via dictionaries that slag means "a loose, promiscuous woman." But there are multiple slang terms for such a woman in American English that have varying ...

“Neither the Russians nor the Americans were ready to talk” is perfectly correct, but so is “Neither a British flag nor an American one flies above the pole.” The controversial case is disparate numbers where you actually have to check which part falls next to the verb, as in “Neither all the troops nor one general is ready” versus ...

Oct 7, 2011 · In British use the jack has been since the 17th c. (except under the Commonwealth) a small sized ‘Union Flag’ of the period (Union Jack), which has also been, since 1707, inserted in the upper canton of the ensign; hence, the name ‘union jack’ is often improperly applied to the union flag itself, when this is not carried or used as a jack.

In both American and British English, there is a small set of verbs that must always be spelled with -ise at the end. The main reason for this is that, in these words, -ise is part of a longer word element rather than being a separate ending in its own right.

Jun 24, 2018 · The word is also used in other words and phrases such as: apple jack, hijack, jack of clubs (playing card), jack straw (scarecrow), jack tar (sailor), jack-in-the-box, jack-of-all-trades, jack o'lantern, jackdaw, jackhammer, jackknife, jackpot, lumberjack, union …

Jun 7, 2018 · The British equivalent, though arising later than the American ten-foot pole, is “not touching s.o. or s.th. with a barge pole”: The British get dog sick, leave footmarks and they wouldn’t touch some things with a barge pole. Americans get sick as a dog, leave footprints and wouldn’t touch some things with a ten-foot pole.

When referring to a staff in the sense of the following definitions (as you seem to mean, given your example regarding shepherds), both the plural forms staffs and staves are permitted.

Feb 27, 2011 · Apologies for the resurrection... The term 'guv' or 'governor' is most commonly used for a reason by manual tradespeople, to denote the person paying their bill, or the person who orders and accepts their work, to distinguish from …

Dec 19, 2013 · The slang term minge in the sense of quim dates from the beginning of the 20th century. However, neither the OED nor Etymonline has any idea where it came from. Here are two of the OED’s citations: