Nigel Rees - A Word In Your Shell-Like

(an) accident waiting to happenHindsight phrase, frequently used in the wake of a disaster. This is the survivors’ and experts’ way of pointing to what, to them, seems the foreseeable and inevitable result of lax safety standards that will now probably be corrected only as a result of the tragedy. Much used in relation to the late 1980s spate of disasters in the UK (Bradford City football ground fire, Zeebrugge ferry overturning, Piper Alpha oil-rig explosion, Kings Cross Tube fire, Hillsborough football stadium crowd deaths). Used as the title of a 1989 book on the subject by Judith Cook. ‘Ignorance and neglect cost 51 lives [in the Marchioness boat disaster]…“You don’t need the benefit of hindsight to say this was an accident waiting to happen,” he said’ – Today (16 August 1991).

according to CockerBy strict calculation, exactly. Edward Cocker (1631–75) was an arithmetician who is believed to have written down the rules of arithmetic in a popular guide.

according to HoyleExactly; correctly; according to the recognized rules; according to the highest authority. The phrase comes from the name of the, at one time, standard authority on the game of whist (and other card games). Edmond Hoyle was the author of A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist (1742). ‘If everything goes according to Hoyle, I’ll go into semiretirement there’ – Melody Maker (21 August 1971).

(an) ace in the holeA hidden advantage or secret source of power. An American phrase used as the title of a Cole Porter song in the show Let’s Face It (1941), of a Billy Wilder film (US 1951) and of an Annie Proulx novel, That Old Ace In the Hole (2002). It came originally from the game of stud poker. A ‘hole’ card is one that is not revealed until the betting has taken place. If it is an ace, so much the better. DOAS dates the use of the expression, in a poker context, to the 1920s, OED2 to 1915. In British English, the nearest equivalent would be to talk of having an ace up one’s sleeve. ‘In the long haul…AM’s ace in the hole may be the $213 million net operating loss carryforward it still has left from its 1981–2 losses’ – The New York Times (6 May 1984).

(an) Achilles’ heelThe vulnerable point of any person or thing. Referring to Achilles, the foremost warrior in the Trojan war, who sulked in his tent, was hero of the Iliad and was vulnerable only at the heel (in allusion to the story of the dipping of Achilles’ heel in the river Styx). ‘Divorce is the Achilles’ heel of marriage’ – Bernard Shaw, letter (2 July 1897). It was cited as a ‘dying metaphor’ by George Orwell, ‘Politics and the English Language’ in Horizon (April 1946). ‘If Oppenheimer has an “Achilles” heel, it is his overriding loyalty to his friends’ – Arthur Holly Compton, Atomic Quest (1956); ‘It is the refusal to condemn which is the Achilles heel of contemporary Christian psychology’ – Catholic Herald (28 January 1972).

(an) acid testA crucial test. Originally an ‘acid test’ involved the use of aqua fortis to test for gold. Cited as a ‘lump of verbal refuse’ by George Orwell, ‘Politics and the English Language’ in Horizon (April 1946). ‘The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will’ – President Woodrow Wilson, quoted in The Times (9 January 1918); ‘The acid test of any political decision is, “What is the alternative?“’ – Lord Trend, quoted in The Observer (21 December 1975); ‘Let’s get South Africa working. For we must together and without delay begin to build a better life for all South Africans. This is going to be the acid test of the government of national unity’ – Nelson Mandela, quoted in Financial Times (3 May 1994); ‘If the same weight is not given to the improvement of human capital as to market share, profit and other organisational priorities, small wonder the human resources function is often viewed as unrelated to the “real” goals of the company. The acid test here is: do the job descriptions of all staff (board of directors, executive, administration) include meaningful percentages of weights and time spent in subordinate development with examples of what this means in practice?’ – Financial Times (6 May 1994).

(an) action manA person who is given more to action than to thought, named after a boy’s doll that could be dressed in various military-type costumes with appropriate accoutrements. Prior to his marriage in 1981, Charles, Prince of Wales, was noted for his enthusiastic sporting activities in many fields. Coupled with his active service in the Royal Navy, such expenditure of energy caused him to be accorded this nickname. A report of a General Medical Council disciplinary inquiry in The Independent (29 March 1990) stated: ‘He told the hearing: “Mr Bewick is an Action Man, not a philosopher. Action Man’s advantage is that at the drop of a hat, he can go anywhere and do anything”.’

action this dayInstruction phrase, for office use. ‘ACTION THIS DAY’, ‘REPORT IN THREE DAYS’ and ‘REPORT PROGRESS IN ONE WEEK’ were printed tags that Winston Churchill started using in February 1940 to glue on to memos at the Admiralty. Subtitled ‘Working with Churchill’, the book Action This Day (1968) is a collection of the reminiscences of those who had been closely associated with Churchill during the Second World War. ‘She [Margaret Thatcher] had the draft of that circular on her desk that night. She said “Action this day” and she got it. We didn’t stop to argue’ – Hugo Young, One of Us , Chap. 6 (1989).

(an) actor laddieAn actor with the booming voice and declamatory manner of the Victorian and Edwardian stage. The expression presumably derives from the habit of adding the somewhat patronizing endearment ‘laddie’ when talking to junior members of their companies. The playwright Ronald Harwood singled out Frank G. Carillo as an example of the breed, from the early 1900s: ‘[He] intoned rather than talked, in a deep, trembling voice ideally suited to melodrama and he used it with equal fortissimo both on and off the stage.’ Sir Donald Wolfit, himself somewhat prone to this manner, described Carillo as one of the few actors he had actually heard use the word ‘laddie’.

actressSee AS THE BISHOP.

act your age (also be your age)!Grow up, behave in a manner more befitting your years. Probably from the US and in use by the 1920s. An elaboration heard in the UK (1985) – act your age, not your shoe size(normal shoe sizes in the UK are in the range 4–12).

Adam’s ribThe film Adam’s Rib (US 1949) is about husband and wife lawyers opposing each other in court and stars Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. It is also the title of a 1923 Cecil B. de Mille film about marriage, with biblical flashbacks. The phrase alludes to Genesis 2:21–2, which states that God made woman from one of Adam’s ribs. Compare SPARE RIB.

adjustSee DO NOT.

(an) admirable CrichtonA resourceful servant. Also applied – broadly – to anyone of intellectual accomplishment. The Admirable Crichton has been the title of a novel by Harrison Ainsworth (1837) and of J. M. Barrie’s play (1902; films UK 1918, 1957), the latter about a butler who succours his shipwrecked aristocratic employer on a desert island. The term had originally been applied to James Crichton (1560–85), Scottish traveller and scholar, by Sir Thomas Urquhart in The Jewel (1652).