The Pox Doctor's Clerk

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G. Kersh Thousand Deaths of Mr Small 345: Don’t come dressed up like a pox-doctor's clerk. Come dressed like a human being. J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 8: ‘Wheredya come by your china? [...] He comes up like a pox doctor’s clerk’. Culotta’s 1957 novel, They’re A Weird Mob, holds the earliest citation, says Laugesen: “Jimmy whistled two notes softly, and Joe said, ‘Gees Nino, yer done up like a pox doctor’s clerk. Yer don’t need no coat an’ a coller an’ tie.’” arts Australia & New Zealand etymology French/English linguistics literature media music public affairs religion symbolisms United Kingdom & Ireland USA & Canada Main Tags animals Australia Christianity dictionaries drinks economics food human body Ireland judicial Latin military newspapers & magazines phrases politics slang sports & games theatre United Kingdom USA links Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 106: Gees, Nino, yer done up like a pox doctor’s clerk. Yer don’ need no coat an’ a collar an’ tie.

G. Seal Lingo 198: Other uses of up include the sartorial dressed up like a pox doctor’s clerk dressed in a lurid, flashy style. No, no,” they shouted. “You can’t wear it like that. You look like a pox doctor’s clerk (pronounced clark).” It was explained to me how a derby must be worn. The fashion is set by the young blades of Mayfair.

an apple a day keeps the doctor away

The hat must be placed straight on the head, a little forward so it catches on the bump at the rear of the head. This is to permit the hat to be tipped readily to ladies.

At the fifth hat shop, I found one. Currently there is a run on derbies because they suddenly have returned to popularity.D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 15: They [...] ran into another mob of guys that shouldn’t have been out on the street. Only kids and dressed like pox doctors’ clerks.

R. McGregor-Hastie Compleat Migrant 106: Clerk, pox doctor’s, to be dressed up like a: to be over-dressed. W. Cameron Day Is Coming 504: You might carry a umbrella, jus’ fer a extra touch o' respect-bility — but don’t go makin’ yerself up like a pox-doctor's clerk. Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Catch Phrases: American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day,The earliest occurrence that I have found is from an article written from London, England, by Ernie Hill, of the Chicago Daily News ( Chicago, Illinois), and published in several U.S. newspapers in March 1954—for example in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) of Friday the 26 th: