Egg Idioms

Several words have found themselves used in a number of phrases. We looked at 'job' last time and this time it's 'egg'.

Bad egg is a phrase used for the first time in the figurative sense in 1855.

Nobody was described as appearing foolish with the expression ‘to have egg on one’s face’ until 1948.

Eggs Benedict did not appear on a menu (or a recipe book) until 1898 – might have been the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

Nobody was ever said to put all their eggs in one basket until 1875.

The first record of a person being ‘egged on’ or encouraged dates from as earlier as the beginning of the 13th century and came to English from Old Norse. Nobody was ‘egged on’ in the sense of being pelted with eggs until 1857, and a third sense of ‘covered or mixed with eggs’ is seen in culinary terms from 1808.

Eggnog is first recorded around 1775, ‘nog’ being an old term for ‘strong ale’.

Although the sandglass used to measure time has been known since at least the eighth century, they probably weren’t made from glass until the 14th century, and they were not referred to as ‘egg timers’ until 1873. Yes, I did wonder how they ended up with a soft-boiled egg before then. However……

…. they probably had soft-boiled eggs at that time, for egg cups were described by 1773.

Egg rolls, those pseudo-Chinese dishes invented by the Americans, is first described in 1917. I am told that modern egg rolls often contain no egg but cabbage instead.

Egg beaters must have been used before 1828, but not produced or known as such. From 1937 the same phrase was used as a slang term for the helicopter.

Nobody referred to an ‘egg white’ until 1881.

The eggplant, most often known as an aubergine in the United Kingdom, is first recorded in 1763.

Addle, a word meaning ‘to spoil, go rotten, putrid’, is first seen in the 1640s. However, this must have come from an earlier phrase of ‘addle egg’, as that is recorded as early as the middle of the 13th century.

Egg shells are not described as such until the early 15th century; although people were ‘walking on egg shells’ by 1734; used as a reference to something delicate and fragile by 1835; and the term was first used to describe a colour in 1894.

Uruguay Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Uruguayan cities.

Montevideo has several explanations, all agreeing the monte or 'hill' refers to that seen across the bay which shares the Montevideo name. Here opinions divide and we find everything from monte vide eu 'I saw a mount' to monte Ovidio 'the hill of Santo Vidio'. Saint Ovidius was a former Portuguese Bishop of Braga.

Florida in Uruguay has the same origin and meaning as its more famous namesake in the USA, it's the Spanish for 'flowers'.

Barros Blancos tanslates as 'white mud' and was the original name until 1976 when renamed Juan Antonio Artigas, grandfather of a national hero, but the original name was reinstated in 2007.

Ciudad del Plata translates as 'silver city'.

Treinta y Tres is a name translating as 'thirty-three', a reference to the 33 Orientales who were responsible for Uruguay's independence.

Fray Bentos translates as 'Friar Benedict', a reclusive priest.

Trinidad is the Spanish for 'trinity'.

La Paz is the Spanish for 'peace'.

Canelones derives its name from a kind of cinnamon which grows locally.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.