Art by Heath Robinson
Britain has a long, rich tradition of cartooning second to no other land’s. And, as we saw for American English, cartoons have contributed to the country’s popular language.
“When I saw them together at the beach, that’s when the light bulb switched on: they were having an affair!
The origin of this metaphor– the light bulb moment– for a sudden realisation or a bright idea, I’ve been unable to pin down– but it definitely comes from comics. Note that the newspaper comic strip and the electric light bulb both came about around the same time…
However, another fine old comic strip depiction– that of sawing wood to indicate snoring:
Continue reading