CUP OF JOE
MEANING
Nickname
for “cup of coffee”.
ORIGIN
There
are two theories about the origin:
- On June 1914 Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the American Navy, banned all US Navy ships from serving alcoholic beverages. The sailors, disappointed by his captain’s order, decided to drink coffee instead of alcohol. Since Josephus Daniels was the one responsible for banning alcohol, the sailors nicknamed the drink after him, thus it became “a cup of Joe”, Joe being short for Josephus.
- The second postulates that since “Joe” is argot for a “fellow, guy, chap”, that a “cup of joe” thus means the common man’s drink. The lexicon of English is replete with instances of “Joe” being used to denote a typical guy who is wholly interchangeable with any other guy in the same line of work or area of special interest: “Holy Joe”, “Joe Public”, “Joe Bloggs”, “Joe College”, “Joe Soap”, etc.
EXAMPLES
o Let’s
stop for a cup of joe before we head to work
o
He
has been working so hard during the afternoon that he deserves a cup of joe.
SPICE THINGS UP
MEANING
to
make something more exciting.
ORIGIN
It
comes from the phrasal verb “spice up”, used in cooking context meaning to add
species to the preparing of a meal in order not to be tasteless. In this case,
we can notice how tasteful and spicy are identified with interesting stuff.
EXAMPLES
o
I
wanted to spice things up in my living room, so I bought some blue and green
paint.
o Sam’s
wedding speech was really boring. He should have spiced it up with some jokes!
HOT POTATO
MEANING
a
controversial or difficult subject.
ORIGIN
The expression
stands for the fact that when potatoes were baked in the past , those who cook
it can’t handle them because of its high temperature, so then they dropped it
or threw it. This also happens with controversial or taboos issues, which
people avoid commenting on or just cut off the conversation.
EXAMPLES
o
The
idea of building a new block of apartment in the natural park is a hot potato
among the people of the village.
o Last
winter’s reform of ruinous credit interests was a hot potato that only he dared
to touch.
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