not in Kansas anymore

From the film The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which Dorothy states, “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”

As soon as I walked into that party I thought, "I'm not in Kansas anymore."

John Crosbie? A Tory government? You could be forgiven if your first reaction was the feeling that you weren't in Kansas anymore.

1986 April, Gerald Hannon, “Leaving Kansas”, in The Body Politic, number 125, Pink Triangle Press, page 8:

The police action is rough and raw, like Hill Street Blues. But when a courtroom jury, asked for its verdict, breaks into song, we know we're not in Kansas anymore.

1990 October 1, “Critics' Voices”, in Time, archived from the original on 2013-03-05:

C++ meets all three of these classic criteria of object-orientedness, but once you really start to take advantage of them in your programs, you'll find you're definitely not in Kansas anymore.

1991 July, Ray Duncan, “Power Programming”, in PC Magazine, page 444:

(idiomatic, colloquial, US) No longer in quiet and comfortable surroundings.


an apple a day

an apple a day keeps the doctor away#English

Short for an apple a day keeps the doctor away


kill the fatted calf

en-verb

kill the fatted calf (third-person singular simple present kills the fatted calf, present participle killing the fatted calf, simple past and past participle killed the fatted calf)

kills the fatted calf (present singular third-person)
killing the fatted calf (participle present)
killed the fatted calf (participle past)
killed the fatted calf (past)

From the parable of the prodigal son in the New Testament.

(idiomatic) To begin a festive celebration and rejoicing for someone's long-awaited return.


Oz

After the fictional land in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

etymid

fictional place envisioned by L. Frank Baum

Ellipsis of Land of Oz, the fictional setting created by L. Frank Baum for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and other works. The term has been extended from the original country of Oz to the entire fictional world of Oz. Subsequently used as a setting by other authors and artists.


Oz

Back-formation from Aus, abbreviation of Australia.


Oz

various alterations of surnames or given names

A diminutive of the male given names Oscar, Oswald, or Osbourne.


Oz

A surname from Turkish, notable borne by Dr. Oz


Bayard of ten toes

From the fact that humans, unlike horses, have ten toes. (Bayard was a horse famous in old romances.)

An honest poor man is the proof of misery, where patience is put to the trial of her strength to endure grief without passion, in starving with concealed necessity, or standing in the adventures of charity : if he be married, want rings in his ears, and woe watereth his eyes : if single, he droopeth with the shame of beggary, or dies with the passion of penury : of the rich he is shunned like infection, and of the poor learns but a heart-breaking profession : his bed is the earth, and the heaven is his canopy, the sun is his summer’s comfort, and the moon is his winter’s candle : his sighs are the notes of his music, and his song is like the swan before her death : his study is patience, and his exercise prayer : his diet the herbs of the earth, and his drink the water of the river : his travel is the walk of the woeful, and his horse Bayard''' of ten toes : his apparel but the clothing of nakedness, and his wealth but the hope of heaven : he is a stranger in the world, for no man craves his acquaintance, and his funeral is without ceremony, when there is no mourning for the miss of him ; yet may he be in the state of election, and in the life of love, and more rich in grace than the greatest of the world. In sum, he is the grief of nature, the sorrow of reason, the pity of wisdom, and the charge of charity.

circa''' 1616 : Nicholas Breton, An Honest Poor Man ; reprinted (with modernised spelling) in Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, Bart. M.P., Archaica : Containing a Reprint of Scarce Old English Prose Tracts, with Prefaces, Critical and Biographical, volume 1, 1815 pages 32–33 (London : Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown ; T. Davidson, Whitefriars)

(obsolete, slang) The feet, as a means of travelling.


Jekyll and Hyde

en-noun

Jekyll and Hyde (plural Jekylls and Hydes or Jekyll and Hydes)

Jekylls and Hydes (plural)
Jekyll and Hydes (plural)

From The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The public will be better off if United and Western are true competitors, instead of a pair of Jekylls and Hydes.

1944, United Air Lines, Inc, Before the Civil Aeronautics Board: Briefs, Exhibits, etc. (page 28)

America! / The international Jekyll and Hyde / The land of a thousand disguises / Sneaks up on you but rarely surprises

1974, “H2Ogate Blues”, in Winter in America, performed by Gil Scott-Heron:

Charles Xavier: That was my… Evil self, X-Men. The Charles Xavier who would use his powers for personal gain and conquest--The Mr Hyde to my Dr Jekyll.

1977, “Dark Shroud of the Past!”, in Uncanny X-Men, number 106, page 31:

GizmoDuck: Excuse me! Just a little case of Jekyll and Hyde, that's all!

1989, “Super DuckTales Part 3: Full Metal Duck”, in DuckTales, season 3, episode 8:

Studying geometry is sort of a Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde thing. You have the ordinary geometry of shapes (the Dr. Jekyll part) and the strange world of geometry proofs (the Mr. Hyde part).

2011, Mark Ryan, Geometry Essentials For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 5:

Someone or something that has two sides: one good (the "Dr Jekyll") and one bad (the "Mr Hyde").

Robert Louis Stevenson
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde


sour grapes

From Aesop's fable The Fox and the Grapes, in which a fox, unable to reach grapes it is seeking, convinces itself that they must have been unripe (therefore, sour) all along and so not worth trying for in the first place.

I think his comments about that new car are just sour grapes because he can't afford it.

Despite the egos of individual scientists, the jealousies and the sour grapes, science had worked pretty much the way it was supposed to.

2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, chapter 2, in Merchants of Doubt:

His absence was a grievous setback for Liverpool, who had looked the more dangerous team until that point, and it would not be sour grapes for the losers to think that was the moment the game started to swing away from them.

2018 May 26, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London):

(idiomatic) A putting down or expression of disdain about something that one desires but cannot have.

sure rønnebær

expression of disdain for something one cannot have


munchkin

en:Munchkin (disambiguation)
munchkin
munchkin (cat)

Coined by American author L. Frank Baum in 1900 in his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Perhaps reflective of German Mensch or munch + -kin. Compare Low German Menschken and Low German Minschken

coinage

It'll also have a keyboard configured for a munchkin (...)

2009 August 25, Jonathan Salem Baskin, “Will Nokia's Next Chapter Be Kitchen Blenders?”, in InformationWeek's Digital Life Weblog:

(informal) A person of very short stature.

Alternative form of Munchkin (“domestic cat breed”)

Doesn't anybody recognize humor anymore, or have our faces gone completely stiff from thinking about good vs. evil or character balance or munchkin-zapping?

1989 October 5, Hwang Tsong-Wen, (Usenet):

Munchkinism is similar to "Monty Haul" gaming; however it involves playing at incredible power levels purely for the sake of watching the terrain get blown away by player characters who are unstoppable. Munchkinism also involves "rules rape," wherein players milk every advantage out of the rules. Often a munchkin will carry a favorite character from game to game, usually with the maximum allowable ability scores, skill ratings, etc - and enough hardware/magic to destroy the planet four times over.

1993 February 22, Magnus, “What is Munchkinism? What does the Wizard of Oz have to do with roleplaying games?”, in (Usenet):

younger gamers of a power-oriented mindset .. an immature power-gamer who has +10 Swords of Slay Anything for wallpaper. It derives from those Oz denizines, Munchkins, to young gamers who often go in for hack'n'slash Monty Hauls, to anyone who seems more concerned with Winning (usually by killing anything that stands in his path) than with playing a game with other people.

1995 June 14, Phil Masters, Elizabeth McCoy, “What does the term 'munchkin' refer to?”, in (Usenet):

You ARE a munchkin if .. you roll 4d6 and keep *all four*

1997 January 31, Bill Wilson via Wildwood, “For those who are new... The Munchkin File!”, in (Usenet):

There are many different answers, but here's mine: A munchkin is someone who's chiefly concerned with "playing to win" - which might be quite appropriate in a game of checkers, but can be very annoying in a roleplaying game.

2001 March 7, "Caldera OpenLinux User", “Re: what's a munchkin ?”, in alt.games.baldurs-gate (Usenet):

(roleplaying games) A player who mainly concentrates on increasing their character's power and capabilities.

ма́нчкин

A player who concentrates solely on increasing his character's power and capabilities

(informal, slang) Synonym of donut hole (“ball-shaped pastry”) (genericization of the Dunkin' trademark "Munchkins")

donut hole

(informal) A pet name one uses for something adorable like a pet, child, or a romantic partner


dark horse

Originally an allusion to an unknown horse with a dark coat winning a race, as used in the 1831 novel The Young Duke by Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881).

‘She’s a dark horse,’ he said. ‘She knows just as much about climbing mountains as you or I. In fact, she was ahead of me the whole time, and I lost her.’

1952, Daphne Du Maurier, “Monte Verità”, in The Apple Tree:

As she pulled the door closed behind her, she heard the nurse say, “Well! You’re a dark horse, I must say! Do you know that extraordinary-looking girl?”

2005, Steve Augarde, Celandine, London: Corgi Books, published 2006, →ISBN, page 13:

“Well!” Genevieve laughs – the kind of bright, trilling laugh you give when you’re really quite annoyed about something. “Ed, you are a dark horse! I had no idea you had a girlfriend!”

2009, Sophie Kinsella, Twenties Girl: A Novel, London: Black Swan, published 2010, →ISBN, page 183:

(idiomatic) Someone who possesses talents or favorable characteristics that are not known or expected by others.

цёмны конік

possessor of unexpected talents or favorable characteristics

(idiomatic, politics) A candidate for an election who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice.

(horse racing) A horse whose capabilities are not known.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dark, horse.


Midas touch

From the Greek legend of King Midas, related in chapter XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 C.E.), whom Dionysus (the god of, among other things, wine and winemaking) gave the power to turn things to gold by touching them.

Midaan kosketus

ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently

(idiomatic) The ability to achieve financial reward (or, more generally, success) from one's actions easily and consistently.


ruby slippers

From the red shoes worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, that had magic properties unknown until the end of the story.

(idiomatic) A valuable feature (of software, etc.) overlooked by the user.


head

one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

Spoken by Neil Armstrong when he first stepped onto the surface of the Moon. Armstrong intended to say "one small step for a man", but misspoke.http://www.snopes.com/quotes/onesmall.asp

(idiomatic) (used imitatively) A cliché used to exaggerate an accomplishment or milestone.


cross the Rubicon

en-verb

cross the Rubicon (third-person singular simple present crosses the Rubicon, present participle crossing the Rubicon, simple past and past participle crossed the Rubicon)

crosses the Rubicon (present singular third-person)
crossing the Rubicon (participle present)
crossed the Rubicon (participle past)
crossed the Rubicon (past)

Refers to Julius Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon to wage civil war with Rome, on January 10, 49 BCE, in violation of law. Suetonius' use of the phrase the die is cast in describing this act popularised the use of that phrase, which was first attributed to the Greek dramatist Menander.

He knew that by coming out to his family he would be crossing the Rubicon, but he could not live a lie anymore.

Britain will cross a “legal and ethical Rubicon” if parliament votes to permit terminally ill patients to end their lives, said the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as leaders of all the UK’s major faith groups call on MPs to reject plans to allow assisted suicide.

2015 September 5, Toby Helm, quoting Justin Welby, “Welby urges MPs: reject right-to-die bill that ‘crosses the Rubicon’”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

Having crossed the Rubicon, we can't go back. The impact of this transition is underlined by the fact that, despite our long evolutionary history as foragers, we generally can't survive by hunting and gathering when we have been stripped of that relevant culturally acquired know-how.

2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 17, in The Secret of Our Success […] , Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

Will China cross the Rubicon by sending its military to Hong Kong?[…]
As the world contemplates whether Beijing will cross the Rubicon and use military force to quell protests in Hong Kong, one question naturally comes to mind: Would the existing garrison be used, or would tanks and soldiers, recently seen moving toward the border in nearby Shenzhen, come across from the mainland? Would they conceivably act as a combined force?

2019 August 16, Bonnie Girard, “Battle-Ready: The PLA’s Hong Kong Garrison”, in The Diplomat, archived from the original on 2019-08-16:

With the invasion of Ukraine the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has thrown himself into the unthinkable. He has crossed the Rubicon into a time of war. He has no way back.

2022 March 9, Luuk van Middelaar, “History is brutally back, and Ukraine will test Europe’s appetite for the consequences”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

When the inevitable moment arrives to cross the romantic Rubicon in “Ticket to Paradise,” the machinery of the screenplay and the far-fetched nature of the moment don’t matter — they can just look at each other and sell it.

2022 October 21, Jason Bailey, “How George Clooney and Julia Roberts Quietly Became the Tracy-Hepburn of Our Time”, in The New York Times:

(idiomatic) To make an irreversible decision or to take an action with consequences.


camel's nose

The root phrase is usually claimed to be a saying of Arabs or Middle Eastern cultures, roughly as follows:
: Do not allow a camel to put his nose under the edge of your tent, for soon you will have a camel in your tent.

(idiomatic) A situation where the permitting of some small act will lead to a larger undesirable act or circumstance.

give them an inch and they'll take a mile


valley of death

en-noun

valley of death (plural valleys of death)

Probably derived from the Old Testament, Psalm 23: "valley of the shadow of death".

(idiomatic, business) The phase of a startup business beginning with the entrepreneur's fulltime commitment to it and ending when the business has achieved sustainable cash flow.


lady or tiger

From the short story The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank R. Stockton, in which a condemned man is offered two doors, one of which leads to a beautiful woman and the other to a ferocious tiger.

(idiomatic) A pure gamble with highly divergent outcomes.


dormitive principle

dormitive principle (plural dormitive principles)

A modern translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid (1673). In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva". The currency of this phrase as a critique of scientific claims is due to Gregory Bateson (1976, Steps to an Ecology of Mind p. 5), as is the translation of virtus as 'principle'.

We note Bateson's (1968) dormitive principle at work in which behaviors are described as traits such as LD, which then are used to explain the behavior.

1988, Doreen Kronick, New Approaches to Learning Disabilities: Cognitive, Metacognitive, and Holistic:

For Arrow, many socioeconomic phenomena are explained in terms of the "dormitive principle", which, he says, simply repeats the phenomenon being explained.

2000, “Rational Choice and Rationallity”, in The Paradox of Social Order: Linking Psychology and Sociology, page 14:

If we examine traditional explanations of behavior through the lens of recursion, we will sometimes find what Bateson called "dormitive principles," a form of circular description. A "dormitive principle" is a more abstract repackaging of a description of the item you claim to be explaining. To paraphrase Bateson, this occurs when the cause of a simple action, as for example, when aggression is explained as being caused by an "aggressive instinct" or psychotic symptomatology is attributed to "madness."

2002, Bradford Keeney, Aesthetics of Change, The Guilford Press,, →ISBN, page 33:

And to any intelligent reader, explanation of an 'inherent ability' was reminiscent of Molière's mock explanation of the soporific effects of opium - that it contained a 'dormitive principle'.

2003, Ian Glynn, An Anatomy of Thought: The Origin and Machinery of the Mind:

Similarly, to view “leadership" as something that resides in a person is to generate a dormitive principle. This would inspire such pseudoexplanations as “He leads because he possesses leadership qualities.”

2017, Bradford P. Keeney, Aesthetics of Change, page 38:

Prevent disability from becoming a dormitive principle that can, per se, justify any conduct or event in the interaction of the disabled person

2018, Roberto Pereira, Juan Luis Linares, Clinical Interventions in Systemic Couple and Family Therapy, page 215:

To say that "he only uses drugs because he is the black sheep” is to mix up these logical types, also called invoking the dormitive principle.

2018, Michael D. Reiter, Systems Theories for Psychotherapists: From Theory to Practice:

(idiomatic, rhetoric, logic, linguistics) A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.


Job's comforter

Job's comforter (plural Job's comforters)

From the Bible Job 16.2 where Job's supposed friends offered advice that was not helpful.

Only a Job's comforter would try to argue that yesterday's stock fall announcement could bring anything good.

A person who, in trying to offer help or advice, says something that aggravates the distress.

pocieszyciel Hioba

person who aggravates someone's distress under the guise of consoling them


cast the first stone

en-verb

cast the first stone (third-person singular simple present casts the first stone, present participle casting the first stone, simple past and past participle cast the first stone)

casts the first stone (present singular third-person)
casting the first stone (participle present)
cast the first stone (participle past)
cast the first stone (past)

From the Bible John 8.7 where Jesus tells the accusers of a woman of adultery, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

2007, March 10, Mr Gingrich, on the impeachment proceedings in 1999. Reported in The Guardian
I knew I couldn't cast the first stone as I knew I had weaknesses. ... (But) as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law I have no choice but to move forward and say you cannot accept perjury in your highest officials.

(idiomatic) To act self-righteously in accusing another person, believing oneself to be blameless.

people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones


road to Damascus

en-noun

road to Damascus (plural roads to Damascus)

From the Bible New Testament book Acts of the Apostles. Referring to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, later known as the Apostle Paul, to Christianity while travelling to Damascus to persecute Christians.

Today we hear a lot about those who have had what's often called Road to Damascus experiences on every issue from guns and same-sex marriage to the sanctity-of-life and taxes.

2007 March 5, Jim Brown, quoting Mike Huckabee, “Huckabee criticizes fellow GOP candidates over 'Damascus Road conversions'”, in One News Now, archived from the original on 2007-03-08:

[…] That was my Road to Damascus moment. They played one hit after another and this is the song I remember most clearly.

2007 March 18, Will Hodgkinson, quoting Bryan Ferry, “Soundtrack of my life: Bryan Ferry”, in The Observer:

The candidate is aggressively branding himself as Vernon 2.0, a kinder, gentler Vernon Jones, a bridge builder, a fence mender. Asked by a Rockdale editor about his “road to Damascus moment,” Jones laughs. “I got knocked off my donkey,” he says.

2010 February 14, Vernon Jones, quotee, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

(idiomatic, often attributive) An important point in someone's life where a great change, or reversal, of ideas or beliefs occurs.


valley of the shadow of death

From Psalm 23 of the Book of Psalms. "Shadow of death" is a calque of Hebrew צלמות.

Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadowe of death, I will feare no euill: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staffe, they comfort me.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 23:4:

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death / I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left

1995, “Gangsta's Paradise”, performed by Coolio, →OCLC:

The world, a place where darkness and death are figurative valleys one must walk through as part of the human experience.


and your little dog too

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-and your little dog too.wav

From a line spoken by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz to Dorothy and her dog Toto: "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!".

(humorous) A statement that not only will the person being addressed be punished but their conspirators will also.


yellow brick road

yellow brick road (plural yellow brick roads)

From the classic film The Wizard of Oz and the book series on which it was based. Originally the literal road to the Emerald City, which was paved with yellow bricks possibly to invoke the notion of gold.

But we're coming up on a bend in the yellow brick road, and going 'round it could cause the party lights to go dark quickly.

2007 December 10, Morgan Housel, “The Impending Destruction of the U.S. Economy: Part 1”, in The Motley Fool:

But for Clinton the yellow brick road that led inevitably to the Democratic nomination has suddenly become a little bumpy.

2007 December 21, “Hillary's mountain gets higher”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:

Smash the emergency glass, press the big red button and just STOP. Step off the Yellow Brick Road, get mixed up with some flying monkeys and throw yourself into all manner of trouble. Trust me. IT'S YOUR LAST CHANCE.

2011 August 19, Emma Kennedy, “Relax - a gap year's supposed to be fun”, in The Guardian:

(idiomatic, often humorous) A proverbial path to a Promised Land of one's hopes and dreams.


Promised Land

United States of America
United States of America

(Mormonism) The United States of America.


no room at the inn

From the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus (Luke 2).

The pitcher is struggling to throw strikes but there's no room at the inn.

(baseball, used by play-by-play announcers) A situation in which an ineffective pitcher is pitching with the bases loaded.


dormitive virtue

dormitive virtue (plural dormitive virtues)

A calque translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid. In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva".

The inevitable next suggestion -— that aesthetic experience is distinguished not by pleasure at all but by a special aesthetic emotion can be dropped on the waste-pile of "dormitive virtue” explanations

1968, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, American Philosophical Association, page 6:

Solidity now has all the defects of a dormitive virtue, obscurity, unobservability, something-we-know-notwhattery — and none of the advantages of a dormitive virtue

1998, Rae Langton, Kantian Humility: Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves, page 176:

Because (1) is postulated and at the same time used as a covering law, the putative explanations are vacuous in the sense in which explanatory appeals to dormitive virtue are.

2003, Henry E. Kyburg, Mariam Thalos, Probability is the Very Guide of Life, page 66:

Now admittedly, this has the look of a dormitive virtue argument: the reason the intellect can recollect its own activity is that it possesses just such a recollective capacity.

2013, Charles Bolyard, Rondo Keele, Later Medieval Metaphysics: Ontology, Language, and Logic, page 147:

But if talk of such facts just arises via hypostatizations out of the relevant truths, then the facts posited can't explain the truths except via a blatant dormitive virtue explanation.

2021, Karen Bennett, Dean W. Zimmerman, Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, volume 12, page 29:

Fitness is not the empty idea of a dormitive virtue. The point is that although fitness is explanatory, it seems to be a placeholder for a deeper account that dispenses with the concept of fitness [again the propensity concept].

2021, Richard E. Michod, Darwinian Dynamics: Evolutionary Transitions in Fitness and Individuality, page 186: