aren’t we all? In Frederick Lonsdale’s play Aren’t We All? (1924) – the title proving that the phrase was well established by then – the Vicar says, ‘Grenham, you called me a bloody old fool,’ and Lord Grenham replies, ‘But aren’t we all, old friend?’ Ray Henderson composed the song ‘I’m a Dreamer, Aren’t We All’ in 1929. The collusive use has possibly weakened and the phrase become a simple jokey retort or a way of coping with an unintentional double entendre: ‘I’m afraid I’m coming out of my trousers’ – ‘Aren’t we all, dear, aren’t we all?’
aren’t you the lucky one? Congratulatory phrase from the 1920s, tinged with mockery but no envy.
are there any more at home like you? Partridge/ Catch Phrases traces this chat-up line to the musical comedy Floradora (1899), which contains the song (written by Leslie Stuart) ‘Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (Are There Any More At Home Like You?)’ Partridge adds that the line was ‘obsolete by 1970 – except among those with long memories’. Indeed, Tom Jones may be heard saying it to a member of the audience on the album Tom Jones Live at Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas (1971).
are we downhearted? – no! A morale-boosting phrase connected with the early stages of the First World War but having political origins before that. The politician Joseph Chamberlain said in a 1906 speech: ‘We are not downhearted. The only trouble is, we cannot understand what is happening to our neighbours.’ The day after he was defeated as candidate in the Stepney Borough Council election of 1909, Clement Attlee, the future British Prime Minister, was greeted by a colleague with the cry, ‘Are we downhearted?’ (He replied, ‘Of course, we are.’) On 18 August 1914, the Daily Mail reported: ‘For two days the finest troops England has ever sent across the sea have been marching through the narrow streets of old Boulogne in solid columns of khaki…waving as they say that new slogan of Englishmen: “Are we downhearted?…Nooooo!” “Shall we win?…Yessss!”’ Horatio Nicholls (Lawrence Wright) incorporated the phrase into a song (1917).
are yer courtin’ [are you courting]? Stock phrase from the BBC radio show Have A Go (1946–67) – what the host, Wilfred Pickles, would say when chatting up unmarried women contestants of any age (‘from nineteen to ninety’).
are you all right? Fanny’s all right! Stock phrase of the American actress, comedienne and singer Fanny Brice (1891–1951).
are you a man or a mouse? Usually said by a female disparagingly of a timorous male, this seems to have originated in the US, by the 1930s. A correspondent, Irene Summers (1998), remembered it being a feature of an Eddie Cantor film, Strike Me Pink (1935): ‘Eddie played a coward as usual, working in a dry cleaners. He triumphed in the end, beat the bullies and got the girl. When we came out, the attendants gave us little coins, with a mouse on one side and a man on the other, with the words, “Are you a man or a mouse?” and “See Eddie Condon in ‘Strike Me Pink’”.’ In the Marx Bros’ film A Day At the Races (1937) Alan Jones asks it of Groucho, who replies: ‘You put a piece of cheese down here and you’ll find out.’ Later on, the fondly remembered Sabrina recorded the song ‘Man Not a Mouse’ from the 1950s’ musical Grab Me a Gondola. In BBC TV, Yes, Minister (1980s), a minister overridden by a spokesman is asked, ‘Are you a man or a mouth?
are you going to pardon me? Catchphrase from the BBC radio show Ray’s a Laugh (1949–60), spoken by Charles Hawtrey as Mr Muggs.
are you looking for a punch up the bracket? Stock phrase of Tony Hancock in his BBC radio show, Hancock’s Half-Hour (1954–9), though merely popularized and not coined by him. For no accountable reason, ‘bracket’ refers to the nose and mouth, but really the target area is unspecified. Compare: a punch up the conk, where the nose is obviously specified – as in the BBC radio Goon Show, ‘The Mysterious Punch-Up-the-Conker’ (7 February 1957).
are you married? See OOH, YOU ARE AWFUL.
are you now or have you ever been (a member of the Communist Party)? The stock phrase of McCarthyism, the pursuit and public ostracism of suspected US Communist sympathizers at the time of the war with Korea in the early 1950s. Senator Joseph McCarthy was the instigator of the ‘witch hunts’, which led to the blacklisting of people in various walks of life, notably the film business. Those appearing at hearings of the House of Representatives Committee on UnAmerican Activities (1947-circa 1957) were customarily challenged with the full question. Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been? was the title of a radio/stage play (1978) by Eric Bentley.
are you ready, Eddie? Slogan for the Today newspaper in the UK (1986). Not an immortal slogan but worth mentioning for what it illustrates about advertising agencies and the way they work. Today, a new national newspaper using the latest production technology, was launched by Eddie Shah, hitherto known as a unionbusting printer and publisher of provincial papers. In its collective wisdom, the Wight Collins Rutherford Scott agency, charged with promoting the new paper’s launch, built the whole campaign around the above slogan. Why had they chosen it? Starting with the name ‘Eddie’ – Mr Shah being thought of as a folk hero in some quarters – the agency found that it rhymed with ‘ready’. So the man was featured in TV ads being asked this important question by his staff. Unfortunately, the ad agency had zeroed in all too well on the most pertinent aspect of the new paper’s launch. Today was not ready, and the slogan echoed hollowly from the paper’s disastrous start to the point at which Mr Shah withdrew. The phrase had earlier been used as the title of a track on the Emerson, Lake and Palmer album Tarkus (1971), where it referred to the recording engineer, Eddie Offord (to whom it had, presumably, been addressed). The same rhyme occurs in ready for Freddie, meaning ‘ready for the unexpected, the unknown or the unusual’ (according to DOAS, 1960), and was a phrase that came out of the ‘L’il Abner’ comic strip of the 1930s; are you ready for Freddy? was used as a slogan to promote the film Nightmare on Elm Street – Part 4 (US 1989) – referring to the gruesome character, Freddy Krueger.
are you ready to take the challenge? This was used in some marketing tests in 1990–1 for an unidentifed product – ‘I fill out a form and stand in line. When it came to my turn I was presented with a tray on which stood two unmarked beakers and two upturned tubs. My jolly uniformed woman smiled and said: “Are you ready to take the challenge?”’ – Independent on Sunday (23 September 1990). Taking up a challenge was originally a procedure in medieval chivalry. The knight making the challenge would throw down his gauntlet. The person accepting the challenge would formally pick it up. Mostly in political and business use, there is the phrase to meet the challenge – a cliché by the mid-20th century. It occurs along with other rhetorical clichés during the ‘Party Political Speech’ (written by Max Schreiner) on the Peter Sellers’ comedy album The Best of Sellers (1958): ‘If any part of what I say is challenged, I am more than ready to meet that challenge’. ‘With the Tories reeling from their worst nationwide election defeat in modern times, the Prime Minister [John Major] marched out to Downing Street to promise: “I will meet a challenge whenever it comes”’ – Evening Standard (London) (6 May 1994); ‘The World Bank reports: “Deficiencies in the system of legal education and training and a dearth in appropriate standards of professional ethics, have left legal practitioners complacent and unprepared to meet the challenge of their business clients competing in a global economy”’ – Financial Times (15 July 1994).
are you sitting comfortably? – then I’ll begin This was the customary way of beginning stories on BBC radio’s daily programme for small children,