Does anyone know the source of the expression
(A pox, A curse) on both their houses.
This is often associated with the end of Romeo and Juliet.
Learn English – Origin of “A pox/curse on both their houses”
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Related Solutions
I believe it is an Irish slang phrase.
You couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo (phr): bad aim, woeful hurler/darts player/soccer player etc.
Below are some Google findings which make me think this way:
- Dublin Slang
- Everyday English and slang in Ireland
- BBC - Northern Ireland - Voices
- Irish Vocabulary, Everyday English and Slang on Irish Celtic Jewels
- Everyday English and Slang in Ireland (scribd.com)
I also came accross an interesting forum thread which mentions this phrase. Here is an excerpt:
Jackie Milburn: - My dad used to say "son, yer couldn't hit a cow's arse with a shovel"
Juande the Spurrier: - There is a shovel that is called a banjo, because it's shaped like the musical instrument. Seems a farmer might be more likely to have a shovel than a banjo.
With further research, I found out that banjo is a shovel type indeed.
Banjo (as a shovel):
Banjo (as a musical instrument):
The cat in copy-cat means person.
The OED says at copy-cat n.:
Etymology: cat n.1 2.
the referenced sense being:
cat n.1 2. fig. a. As a term of contempt for a human being; esp. one who scratches like a cat; a spiteful or backbiting woman. spec. an itinerant worker (U.S. slang).
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Best Answer
Pox is an alternate spelling of pocks, which has come to us directly from Old English. Pocks are the pustules of some diseases, notably small pox and syphilis, and the word became attached as the name of the disease as well. The OED finds a usage from 1530 in which the pocks is called a punishment from God, so to call down a pox on a house is to wish the punishing calamity of a deadly disease on the family.