Bachelor. An unmarried man. Dr.
Brewer says that the ultimate origin
is unknown, and describes it as com-
ing from the Old French bachelor,
which is from a late Latin word,
baccalaris; but the Latin baccalaria
meant a herd of cows. Cows were at-
tended by youths who were bacca-
larius. Old French corrupted this into
bachelor, from which our word came.
There is no doubt whatever of the
origin of the word.

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) . The first
and lowest degree conferred by a Uni-
versity.

Back room boys. The name given
by Lord Beaverbrook, then Minister
for Aircraft Production, to the Re-
search Department of the Air Minis-
try. During the earlier, and later,
stages of the World War the members
of the department designed and
worked out new aero engines, new
bombs, and other methods of defence.
In a broadcast on 24th March, 1941,
Lord Beaverbrook, reviewing our air
position, said that five new aero en-
gines had been brought from experi-
ment to manufacture in nine months;
and, he added, "Who is responsible.
To whom must praise be given? I will
tell you. It is the boys in the back
rooms. They do not sit in the lime-
light; but they are the men who do
the work. Most of them are Civil
Servants. There is Bulman and there
is Farren. Air-Commander Huskinson
is one of the leaders. He designs
bombs -- big bombs, fat bombs, thin
bombs. Beautiful bombs." (While
watching the effect of bursting bombs
during a German air raid over Lon-
don, Air-Commander Huskinson was
blinded.)

Bacon. To save one's. The phrase
has nothing whatever to do with
bacon. The old Dutch word for bacon
was baec; but then the earlier Anglo-
Saxon word for back was also baec.
Why any compiler of "origins" should
go abroad for a word which already
existed in our ancient language is
difficult to understand. To save one's
bacon is really to save one's baea
(back) from a thrashing.

Bad excuse is better than none.
First appeared in Udall's comedy,
"Ralph Roister Doister" (about 1534).
This was the first comedy of the Eng-
lish stage.

Bad hat. Sir William Fraser
"Words on Wellington" suggest that
the phrase was coined by the Duke
in the 1830's. This is, however, purely
hearsay. It was more like to have
been Irish in origin, the worst Hiber-
nian characters always wearing big
high hats.

Bag and baggage. "Bag" was the
Celtic bag, a wallet or bundle, not the
present English word bag, which was
at that time a poke, pocket. Baggage
came from the Old French bagues,
goods, articles, belongings. To get rid
of a person, "bag and baggage," was,
therefore, to send him off with his
bundle and goods.

Baggage. "She's a baggage." A
worthless, saucy or flirtatious woman.
It was first applied to the wives of sol-
diers, because when taken on foreign
service with the regiment they invari-

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