Englishfield day
Meaning: A wild and uncontrolled time; a time of especially pleasant or exciting action.
Example: “The tabloids had a field day with the celebrity divorce.”
Origin: Military in origin: an 18th-century "field day" was a scheduled day of drills, marching formations, and maneuvers, held in an actual open field for review by commanding officers or visiting dignitaries — the earliest documented reference describes exactly this kind of exercise for the Horse Guards in Hyde Park, reported in The Daily Journal in 1723. The figurative sense, any day of unusual activity, excitement, or display, developed by the 1820s. It narrowed further by the early 1900s into its now-familiar edge: having a "field day" at someone else's expense, taking full, energetic advantage of a situation the way troops once took full advantage of open ground to show off what they could do.
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Explore another collection: Compliments & Insults
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- Eres más corto que las mangas de un chaleco You're not the sharpest — a bit slow on the uptake.
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- Tu as une cervelle de moineau You're scatterbrained and forgetful.
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