Very quick.
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Quicker than lager turns to piss
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As for your Country Attorney, he's no less than my Lord Chancellor on a Market-day in a Country Town, where at the best Inn he takes up his standing, whilst all the under Villages…
The phrase "A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse" was the title of an album by the British group Faces in 1971. This group is most known for its member Rod Stewart.
My folks used "collary wobbles" to mean stomach upset, as in, e.g., "If you eat all that fresh fruit (several apples, pears, oranges, etc.), you get the collary wobbles." I am 89…
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From the Phrase Finder Digest
- Four Christmas Phrases Everyone Repeats Have A Documented Paper Trail
Shops start playing carols and stacking tins of biscuits weeks before December even arrives, which makes Christmas the longest-running seasonal hook of the year. The phrases that travel with it, from a bishop's 1534 letter to a 1977 political jibe, have a better paper trail than most people assume.
21 October 2026
- Old Soldiers Never Die: The Song Behind The Saying
Remembrance Sunday brings out a handful of phrases we repeat without thinking about where they came from. Two are older than any war fought in living memory, and one has a history most people get wrong.
14 October 2026
Based on Google Books usage over the last ~25 years. Refreshes each build.
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- MeaningBuilding castles in the airTo imagine or plan something impressive that has no realistic chance of ever being achieved.
- MeaningDeath is nature's way of telling you to slow downA wry way of saying that death, or a serious illness, is simply the body's blunt and final method of forcing an overworked person to stop and rest.
- MeaningEat and runTo eat a meal quickly and then leave straight away afterwards.
- MeaningEat like a pigTo eat a large amount of food in a greedy or unpleasant manner.
- MeaningOdd fishA strange or eccentric person, someone who does not quite fit in with those around them.
- MeaningTake the good with the badTo accept both the pleasant and unpleasant aspects of a situation without complaint, since nothing is perfect.
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Phrases.org.uk has been documenting the meaning and origin of phrases, sayings and idioms since 1997. Every entry is researched and written by Gary Martin, with citations to the earliest printed use we can find.
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