like dad, keep mum British security slogan of the Second World War, emanating from the Ministry of Information in 1941. Another version was keep mum, she’s not so dumb and showed a very un-Mum-like blonde being ogled by representatives of the three services. The security theme was paramount in both the UK and US wartime propaganda. Civilians as well as military personnel were urged not to talk about war-related matters lest the enemy somehow got to hear. Compare MUM’S THE WORD.
be like that (as also be that way)! A joshing remark made to someone who has said something, or is doing something, of which you disapprove. American and British use by the mid-20th century.
bell, book and candle Phrase from a solemn form of excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. Bartlett (1980) says the ceremony has been current since the 8th century AD. There is a version dating from AD 1200 which goes: ‘Do to the book [meaning, close it], quench the candle, ring the bell.’ These actions symbolize the spiritual darkness the person is condemned to when denied further participation in the sacraments of the church. Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte d’Arthur (1485) has: ‘I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.’ Shakespeare has the modern configuration in King John, III.ii.22 (1595): ‘Bell, book and candle shall not drive me back.’ Bell, Book and Candle was the title of John Van Druten’s play (1950; filmed US 1958) about a publisher who discovers that his girlfriend is a witch.
(the/la) belle époque Literally ‘the beautiful time, fine era’, this phrase is used to describe the period of assured and comfortable living, particularly in France, from the last years of the 19th century until the outbreak of the First World War. It is particularly applied to the life of artistic and literary people of the time. Catalogues show that the phrase appears – first of all in French book titles – around 1948, with one possible case in 1936. From 1948 onwards it became generally known. The phrase without its modern meaning has been current since at least the late 18th century, in the more general sense of ‘the best period’ of, for example, Egyptian or mediaeval art, or the happiest days in someone’s life. Victor Hugo, in a letter written before 1848, put: ‘Quoi qu’on en dise, l’époque où nous vivons est une belle époque.’
Bellman and True See FROM A VIEW.
bells and smells Phrase characterizing Anglo-Catholicism or the ‘High’ Anglican church with its emphasis on incenseburning and other rites more usually associated with Roman Catholicism. Sometimes given as ‘bells and spells’, the phrase was established by the early 1980s. Such rites (and their adherents) are also described as way up the candle.
(the) bells! the bells! Supposed cry of Mathias, a burgomaster, who constantly sees visions of a man that he long ago murdered and robbed, in The Bells, an adaptation by Leopold Lewis of Erckmann-Chatrian’s play Le Juif Polonais. Chiefly associated with the actor (Sir) Henry Irving who had his first great success with it when it was produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, in 1871. Impressions of Irving invariably include the line in which Mathias is haunted by the sound of the sledge bells of the man he murdered. In Bring On the Girls (1954), P. G. Wodehouse reproduces the Irving as: ‘Eah! daun’t you hear…the sund of bell–ll–s?’
(to) bell the cat To undertake a dangerous mission. This expression derives from the fable (told, for example, in Piers Plowman, circa 1377) about the old mouse who suggested putting a bell round the neck of a cat so that mice would be warned of its approach. It was generally agreed among the mice that this was a very good idea – except that one young mouse pointed out the only flaw in it: ‘But who shall hang the bell about the cat’s neck?’ The nickname ‘bell-the-cat’ was applied to Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus (circa 1450–1514) who earned it by devising a scheme to get rid of Robert Cochrane, hated favourite of James III of Scotland. He is reputed to have said that he would ‘bell the cat’, and he began the attack by pulling Cochrane’s gold chain from his neck. Cochrane and others were hanged. Douglas switched allegiance and led the rebellion against James.
belly See BETTER THAN A SLAP.
—belongs to—A modestly used but memorable format for titles. London Belongs To Me was the title of a novel (1945) by Norman Collins (filmed UK 1948 but known in the US as Dulcimer Street). Paris Belongs To Us was the English title of Jacques Rivette’s film Paris nous appartient (France 1960).
belt and braces A term applied to a system with its own back-up, suggesting that if one part falls down, the other will stay up; a double check. It is an engineer’s expression, used for example by a BBC man to describe the two microphones placed side-by-side when broadcasting the sovereign’s Christmas message. In the days when this was broadcast live, it ensured radio transmission. Belt and Braces was the name of a British theatre group of the 1970s. An Australian engineer commented (1993) that some of his colleagues would talk of ‘belt, braces and bowyangs, too’ – ‘bowyangs’ being ties round a worker’s trousers to keep out cold and mud.
be my guest American Speech in 1955 had ‘be my guest’ as a way of saying ‘go right ahead; do as you wish’. Hilton hotels may also have used ‘be my guest’ as a slogan at some time. Certainly, Be My Guest was the title of a book (1957) by the hotelier, Conrad Hilton. What is not clear is when the phrase originated.
bend See CLEANS ROUND.
benefit See BEING FOR THE.
benign neglect When he was a counsellor to President Nixon, the American Democratic politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927–2003) quoted this phrase in a memorandum dated 2 March 1970: ‘The time may have come when the issue of race could benefit from a period of “benign neglect”. The subject has been too much talked about…We may need a period in which negro progress continues and racial rhetoric fades.’ This was leaked to The New York Times and the inevitable furore ensued, though all Moynihan suggested was that racial tensions would be lessened if people on both sides were to lower their voices a little. He was repeating an 1839 phrase of an Earl of Durham to Queen Victoria regarding Canada. It had done so well ‘through a period of benign neglect’ by the mother country, the Earl said, that it should be granted self-government.
Bentley See BLACK MARK.
be prepared The motto of the Boy Scout movement (founded 1908), which shares its initials with the movement’s founder, Sir Robert Baden-Powell. With permission, the words were subsequently used as an advertising slogan for Pears’ soap. They were also used, as a motto, by police in South Africa.
(a right) berk Morris (1977) cites Dudley Moore as saying of Peter Cook (in a magazine interview): ‘It is hard to distinguish sometimes whether Peter is being playful or merely a berk.’ Morris then goes on, coyly, to say ‘berk is British slang – originally a bit of Cockney rhyming slang – meaning “fool”’ – and leaves it at that. In fact, ‘berk’ is short for ‘Berkeley/Berkshire Hunt’, which is rhyming slang for ‘cunt’. Spelling the word ‘birk’ or ‘burk(e)’ helps obscure the origin. Theoretically, if it comes from this source, the word should be pronounced ‘bark’. The use probably does not date from before 1900.
Berlin by Christmas See BY CHRISTMAS.
Bernie, the bolt! Bob Monkhouse, host of ATV’s game show The Golden Shot 1967–75, explained in 1979: ‘Lew Grade had bought the Swiss-German TV success The Golden Shot and the host had to repeat one line in each show – the word of instruction to the technician to load the
