Complete and Utter Zebu

2009 is set to be the fifth hottest “since records began”, according to the Met Office. Even though there are still five weeks to go, that sounds pretty scary. Surprising, even, given the ridicule directed at the Met Office for forecasting in April that we were set for “a barbecue summer”. We certainly didn’t get to use ours in 2009.

But what does the phrase “since records began” mean? In the case of the UK’s weather, records for the whole country have only been kept since 1914. The fact that this year is set to be the fifth hottest in 95 years isn’t quite so alarming. Weather data does go back further, but was usually recorded by amateur meteorologists and, not being standardised, is not considered reliable enough.

We’ve lots of other instances of “since records began” in Complete and Utter Zebu. Among them is the claim by the National Dental Inspection Programme in March that Scottish children have the healthiest teeth “since records began”. Their records began in 2003. Britain’s beaches were apparently more littered in 2009 than at any time “since records began”. In other words, than at any time since 2004.

As for the phrase “the best thing since sliced bread”, the idea of selling pre-cut loaves of bread dates back to the United States in 1928, though it took two or three years before more sliced than unsliced loaves were being sold there. The first sliced loaf went on sale in the UK in 1930. The phrase itself doesn’t appear to have entered the language until the late 1960s.