caravan See DOGS BARK.
carbon-copy murders Killings that replicate other recent crimes and may have been inspired by them. Journalistic cliché by the 1950s/60s. Listed by Keith Waterhouse as a cliché to be avoided in Daily Mirror Style (1981). But who knows what carbon paper is nowadays? ‘Victim of the week-old “carbon copy” murder’ – Daily Telegraph (3 April 1961); ‘Detectives probing that crime revealed they are checking for possible links with the “carbon copy” murder of housewife Wendy Speakes at Wakefield, Yorkshire, a year ago…A spokesman for Lincolnshire police said last night: “We have requested the file on the Wakefield case because of the similarities with our inquiry. It appears to be a carbon copy murder”’ – Daily Mirror (12 October 1994).
carcase See HABEAS.
card-carrying Paid-up, committed members of any movement (but mostly political or social). ‘The most dangerous Communists in the nation today are not the open, avowed, card-carrying party members’ – Bert Andrews, Washington Witch Hunt, Chap. 2 (1948).
cared See AS IF I.
Cardew do! See HOW DO YOU DO.
careful See BE GOOD AND.
careless talk costs lives Security slogan, during the war, in the UK, from mid-1940. This became the most enduring of security slogans, especially when accompanied by Fougasse cartoons – showing two men in a club, for example, one saying to the other ‘…strictly between four walls’ (behind them is a painting through which Hitler’s head is peeping), or two women gossiping in front of Hitler wallpaper. Compare loose talk costs lives – security slogan (USA only) from the same war.
care of candle ends Proverbial expression for making petty economies. It is possible to melt the stubs of candles down and make new candles from the wax. The OED2 has a citation from 1668, referring to filching candle ends and laying them away, which is not conclusive. But the following citation from 1732 is quite clearly an allusion: ‘When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend / Who living, sav’d a candle’s end” – Alexander Pope Moral Essays – Epistle III to Allen Lord Bathhurst (1732). In the days when candles were a major expense in grand houses, the candle ends were a perquisite of certain servants, to be re-used or sold. British Prime Ministers W. E. Gladstone and John Major seem to have defended themselves from accusations of ‘saving candle ends’ by arguing that ‘many a mickle maks a muckle’. ‘There were scenes of wild enthusiasm, bordering on delirium, in the streets of London yesterday as [Prime Minister] John Major spoke out once more – with all the passion at his command – on the topic of the Citizen’s Charter. Oh, yes. It has been criticised for dealing with a lot of little things. But, said Mr Major, quoting the less colourful Mr Gladstone, “…if you add the candle ends together you get a whole candle”’ – The Guardian (4 December 1992).
caring and sharing The word ‘caring’ – to describe official ‘care’ of the disadvantaged – was stretched almost to breaking point during the 1980s to embrace almost anybody concerned with social and welfare services, in all sorts of combinations that sought to manipulate the hearer. Marginally worse was the facile rhyme of ‘caring and sharing’ used, for example, to promote a Telethon-type fund-raiser in Melbourne, Australia (November 1981). The phrase is probably of American origin: ‘The love I feel for our adopted children is in no way less strong than the love I feel for the three children in our family who were born to us…It is the caring and sharing that count’ – Claudia L. Jewett, Adopting the Older Child (1978); ‘Jeffrey, a very famous model, was walking along a sandy beach, the salt wind ruffling his hair, a small boy on his shoulders. “Caring and sharing, you see,” murmured Geary’ – Daily Telegraph (11 June 1994).
carpe diem Motto meaning ‘enjoy the day while you have the chance’ or ‘make the most of the present time, seize the opportunity.’ From the Odes of the Roman poet Horace. Another translation of the relevant passage is: ‘While we’re talking, envious time is fleeing: / Seize the day, put no trust in the future.’
(to) carry a torch for (someone) To love someone who does not reciprocate. Since the 1920s. Perhaps because Venus is sometimes depicted as carrying a torch. ‘When a fellow “carries the torch” it doesn’t simply imply that he is “lit up” or drunk, but girl-less. His steady has quit him for another or he is lonesome for her’ – Vanity Fair (NY) (November 1927).
carry on—It is fitting that the injunction to ‘carry on’, a staple part of several catch – and stock phrases, should have been celebrated in the more than thirty titles of British film comedies in the Carry On series. The very first of the films showed the origin: Carry On, Sergeant (1958) was about a sergeant attempting to discipline a platoon of extremely raw recruits. ‘Carry on, sergeant’ is what an officer would say, having addressed some homily to the ranks before walking off and leaving the sergeant to get on with his drill, or whatever. The actual services origin of the phrase is, however, nautical. From the Daily Chronicle (24 July 1909): ‘“Carry on!” is a word they have in the Navy. It is the “great word” of the service…To-morrow the workaday life of the Fleet begins again and the word will be, “Carry on!”’ Other citings: Carry On, Jeeves – as the title of P. G. Wodehouse’s collection of strories (1925); in 1936, when President F. D. Roosevelt was seeking reelection, a Democratic slogan was ‘Carry on, Roosevelt’. A cable from the Caribbean was received in Whitehall during the summer of 1940: ‘Carry on, Britain! Barbados is behind you!’ When Sub-Lieutenant Eric Barker (1912–90) starred in the Royal Navy version of the BBC radio show Merry Go Round (circa 1945), his favourite command to others was, ‘Carry on, smokin’!’ Jimmy Jewel (1912–95) of the double-act Jewel and Warriss would refer to Ben Warriss (d. 1993) as ‘Harry Boy’ and say ‘Carry on, ‘Arry Boy! Tell ‘em, boy. Has Harry Boy been up to something naughty?’ When some dreadful tale had been unfolded, Jewel would cap it with ‘What a carry on!’ This last phrase became the title of a film the two comedians made in 1949. In his autobiography (1982), Jewel remarked that Tommy Trinder ‘stole’ the line ‘and later we almost came to blows over it’.
carry on, London! At the end of the BBC radio topical interview show In Town Tonight (1933–60), a stentorian voice would bellow this to get the traffic moving again. Various people were ‘The Voice’, but Freddie Grisewood may have been the first. See also ONCE AGAIN WE STOP THE MIGHTY ROAR…
(to) carry the can To bear responsibility; take the blame; become a scapegoat. This is possibly a military term, referring to the duties of the man chosen to get beer for a group. He would have to carry a container of beer to the group and then carry it back when it was empty. Some consider it to be precisely naval in origin; no example before 1936. Alternatively, it could refer to the man who had to remove ‘night soil’ from earth closets – literally, carrying the can – and leave an empty can in its place. Or then again, it could have to do with the ‘custom of miners carrying explosives to the coal face in a tin can (hence everyone’s reluctance to “carry the can”)’ – Street Talk (1986).
cart See IN THE.
carved See ALL JOINTS.
casbah See COME WITH ME.
case continues See DEBATE CONTINUES.
(a) case of the tail wagging the dog Phrase suggesting that the proper roles in a situation have been reversed. Known by 1907. ‘The tail wagged the dog in this case and it still often does’ – William Hollingsworth Whyte, The Organization Man (1956); ‘This film came with a seal of approval, from Peter Benchley, the man who wrote Jaws, which is a bit like Michael Crichton rubber-stamping a scientist’s findings on the stegosaurus. Given that