What does gordon bennett mean

Imagine opening your daily newspaper and reading yet another news item telling you of his latest antics, and as you begin to express incredulity with a "God Almighty", you restrain your publically unacceptable language and instead say A few essays on various slang and word topics, incl. Read more Other online slang dictionaries and resources worth a visit.

Recommended reading - books on slang and dictionaries. Submit words and phrases for inclusion, ask a question , or just contact the dictionary. Gordon Bennett English Slang Phrases. Gordon Bennett! But who or what was Gordon Bennett? Many theories have been put out there, but none really satisfy the myth.

We should start with the most common and oft touted explanation. S where he founded The New York Herald. Now Bennett Jr known simply as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father was different kettle of fish altogether.

Known as the first true playboy. He took control of the New York Herald and pretty much drained it of money. There are a few stories as to why we attribute the saying to him. The first story scandalised high society. He attended his own engagement party to socialite Caroline May where he arrived late, a little worse for wear and began dependent on which source you believe to urinate into the fireplace or on the Grand Piano.

A little tinkle on the ivories it was not, but it was in full view of his eminent guests. Needless to say, I am sure some people exclaimed Gordon Bennett to that spectacle. So, at least we can get the spelling right - it isn't Gordon Bennet, it is Gordon Bennett. He had a natural talent for journalism and the paper flourished. An editorial in Harper's at the time expressed the opinion that "It is impossible any longer to deny that the [city's] chief newspaper is the New York Herald".

Other rivals, while accepting Bennett's nose for a story, weren't impressed with what they saw as his 'gutter press' methods. He was unblushing in what was then seen as improper descriptions of his relationship with his wife - describing her 'most magnificent' figure and publishing details of their wedding night and the birth of James Gordon Bennett junior in James Gordon Bennett Jr.

He took over control of the New York Herald in , by which time he was well into an enthusiastic and hedonist playboy lifestyle, indulging in spending the family fortune on air and road racing in the USA, England and France.

He was a significant promoter and patron of sports, especially those requiring impressive and expensive equipment, for example international motor racing, ballooning and air racing. He gave several sponsorships in these fields, notably the Isle of Man Bennett Trophy races of to subsequently a trials course on the island was named after him.

Could it be that British soldiers or sailors abroad heard locals uttering these Latin words in disbelief and anglicized them? Mr Norris said in northern England the phrase is sometimes uttered as "all my eye and Peggy Martin". Its origin could have been a satirical swipe at Conservative prime minister Lord Salisbury's controversial decision in to appoint his nephew Arthur Balfour as chief secretary for Ireland, wrote journalist Fraser McAlpine, in his BBC America Anglophenia blog.

Mr Norris agreed: "In light of Lord Salisbury's Christian name being Robert - 'Bob', of course, being a familiar form of this name - and the appointment being seen by many at the time as nepotistic this theory is an appealing one.

McApline and Mr Scaife have also both questioned whether the phrase could have something to do with Sir Robert Peel, who created the Metropolitan Police Force - where officers were commonly known as "bobbies". This expression conveys the sense that "if anything can go wrong it will go wrong". He coined the phrase after he observed someone setting up an experiment that required the attachment of 16 accelerometers, according to Brewers.

Each consisted of a sensor that could be attached to its mount in two different ways - and the subject had attached all of them the wrong way round. The expression "to go to Davy Jones's locker" means to be drowned at sea. The use of Davy Jones's locker to refer to the depths of the sea, frequently considered as the graveyard of those who have drowned, has been around since 18th Century, he said.

For instance, in his work Peregrine Pickle, Tobias Smollett refers to Davy Jones as "the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep".