Street Idioms

Several words have found themselves used in a number of phrases. We looked at 'road' last time and this time it is, perhaps predictably, 'street'.

Street people is a reference to the homeless seen from 1967, albeit ‘on the streets’ had been used since 1852, and the former used to refer to prostitutes from around 1728.

Street smarts, another Americanism, is first recorded in 1971.

Street credibility, today almost always abbreviated to ‘street cred’, has only been seen since 1979.

Street preacher is first seen in 1722, albeit originally referring to Methodists, or sometimes Quakers.

Street sweepers were not known as such before 1848.

Street wise is first recorded in 1951.

Street car, the American equivalent of the British ‘tram’, is first recorded in 1859.

Street walker is used tro refer to a prostitute from 1590, and twenty years later describes a pedestrian.

Backstreet has been used to refer to a route away from the more regular routes since the 15th century, and used in a derogatory sense for almost as long.