Strike a bright was a slang expression for having a happy thought, strike me pink. The latter was an imprecation confirming the truthfulness of a statement, the pink referring either to blood or owing its origin to duelling where to pink someone was to strike them in a way that drew a small amount of blood. Strike us up a gum tree was a Cockney expression meaning to bring to grief, although its antecedents come from Australia, where the gum tree grew to heights of over a hundred feet before you came across any branches. That meant anyone foolish enough to climb one had no obvious means of getting down other than by falling.

We use phrases like silent majority but in the 1890s a Phrase much in vogue talked of the submerged tenth. This referred to the tenth of London’s population who always languished in utter poverty. It was attributed to General Booth of Salvation Army fame as a serious debating point, but was also used satirically by his opponents. The way things are going, it is a phrase that may see a revival.

It is the art of the consummate salesperson to find an apt way to describe the poorest of goods such that they seem to have some merit. On the subject of eggs, the Daily Telegraph reported on June 27, 1898 that “Leather Lane supplies the greater proportion of the eggs, and if not to be characterised as suitable for electioneering purposes, would probably be of that order curtly set forth as eggs, without any subtle grading such as “fresh laid”, “breakfast”, or “cooking””. In other words, an egg suitable for electioneering purposes was so bad it was only fit to be thrown at a candidate seeking election. A lovely turn of phrase which I will delight in using when next I come across an egg that has gone off.