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Blow a Raspberry
A sound made with the mouth. The act of 'blowing a raspberry' has been a mild insult for
centuries although its name came from cockney rhyming slang (raspberry tart = fart) in the late 1800's, made
popular especially in the theatrical entertainment of the time.
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Ham it up
From about the mid 1900's or from about 1880 the expression 'hamfatter' was used in American English to describe a mediocre or incompetent stage performer, and that this was connected with a on old minstrel song called 'The Ham-fat Man'.
This derives from the practice of impoverished stage performers using ham fat as a base for face make-up powder.
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Cat Call
Derisory or impatient call or cry or whistle, particularly directed by audience members or onlookers at a
performer or speaker. The 'cat-call' originated from whistles or 'hideous noise' made by an audience
at a theatre to express displeasure or impatience. 'Like the call or wail of a cat'.
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What the Dickens or Hurts
Like the Dickens
Dickens is another word for devil which came to be used as an oath in the same way as God, Hell, Holy Mary, etc. The devil-association is derived from ancient Scandinavian
folklore. A Nick was mythological water-wraith or kelpie, found in the sea, rivers, lakes, even waterfalls.
A half-man, half-horse that took delight when travelers drowned. Shakespeare has Mistress Page using the 'what the dickens'
expression in the Merry Wives of Windsor, c.1600 |
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Pleased as Punch
Openly or boastfully pleased, proud or delighted. The 'pleased as punch'
expression is English in origin, from the early 1800's. The expression is
based on the pleasure in which the puppet 'Punch' derives from murdering all the other characters in the traditional 'Punch and
Judy Show'. Punch and Judy were string puppets imported from traditional Italian medieval street theatre 'Commedia dell'arte' ('Comedy of art' or 'Comedy of the profession'), which began
in 1300's Italy and flourished in the 1500-1600's.
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Kill with Kindness
From the story of how Draco met his death in 590 BC, supposedly by being smothered and suffocated by caps and
cloaks thrown onto him at the theatre of Aegina, from spectators showing their appreciation of
him.
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Steal My Thunder
To use the words or ideas of another person before they have a chance to, especially to gain the
approval of a group or audience. From the story of playwright John Dennis who invented a way of creating the sound of
thunder for the theatre for his play Appius and Virginia in 1709. The play flopped but his thunder effect was used without
his permission in a production of Macbeth. Dennis was said to have remarked 'They will not let my play run, but they steal my
thunder'.
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Egg on
Your Face
To look stupid. From the tradition of poor stage performers having eggs thrown at them.
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The difference between Theatre and Theater
In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardized. Different standards became noticeable after the publishing of
influential dictionaries.
Current English English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Many of the now characteristic American
English spellings were introduced, although often not created, by Noah Webster (An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).
Webster was a strong proponent of spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. Many spelling
changes proposed in the U.S. by Webster himself, and in the early 20th century by the Simplified Spelling Board, never caught on. Among the
advocates of spelling reform in England, the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French)
spellings of certain words proved decisive. Subsequent spelling adjustments in Britain had little effect on present-day U.S. spelling, and vice versa.
Source: American and British English spelling differences - Wikipedia, the
online encyclopedia
What is the correct spelling of theatre/theater?
Francis Hodge published an article about this in THEATRE SURVEY in
the late 1960's. "Theater" is a result of Noah Webster's efforts
in the 1830s to create an American language purified of English spellings:
that's when we lost "colour" "centre" and a lot of other
words that Noah deemed to be too British for the new American democracy.
Since the American theatre/theater at the time was still dominated by British
actors and managers, along with American actors and managers trying to suggest
that theater/theatre was a high class art, the practitioners rather stubbornly
clung to the British spelling. There have been a lot of attempts to
differentiate usage ever since, but whatever the market or editor or style sheet
will accept will work.
Source: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/theatre/part1/
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