In what is now northwestern Greece and southern Albania, King Pyrrhus who ruled a small country called Epirus, was notorious for tolerating enormous casualties among his troops. After suffering a hideous loss of soldiers and officers while vanquishing the Romans in a 279 BC battle, Pyrrhus observed that one more such victory would do him …
Retroterm of the Day: The real McCoy.
In mid-19th century Edinburgh, the G. Mackay distillery produced a well-regarded whiskey. When comparing this product to imitators, Scotsmen talked of “the real Mackay.” Scottish migrants brought this catchphrase to the United States and applied it to anything considered authentic. Over time its spelling was changed to “the real McCoy.”
Retroterm of the Day: On tenterhooks.
Beginning in the Middle Ages washed wool fabric was stretched tightly on wooden frames called tenters.. The wet fabric was attached to L-shaped hooks along the tenter’s perimeter to keep it from shrinking. When in a strained state we still say we’re on tenterhooks.
Retroterm of the Day: Mr. Peepers.
Robinson J. Peepers, the bespectacled junior high school science teacher played by Wally Cox on television from 1952 to 1955, left his name behind as shorthand for timid, spectacles-wearing men like him: Mr. Peepers.
Retroterm of the Day: Doofus.
In 1958 a new character was introduced to the comic strip Popeye: a dimwitted nephew of the sailor man named “Dufus.” Over time the re-spelled term “doofus” became slang for clueless individuals.
Retroterm of the Day: Dance card.
At parties a century ago women hung small cards from their wrist on which they jotted down whom they’d be dancing with. That’s what we refer to when we say “My dance card’s full.”