A Slap-up Meal.

[derekpara]

Where and how did this expression come from ?

[B00]

Thought you'd never ask Derek....Yes please, i'll wear my smartest wellies just for you

xxxx

[snags]

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:

''To have a slap up meal means to eat well. The expression goes back to the time of Charles Dickens, when it was a "slap-bang" meal, derived from cheap eating houses, where one slapped one's money down as the food was banged on the table. Why "down" has turned to "up" is probably another example of language evolution.''

[jno]

used to be a meal at a cheap "slap-bang" restaurant: you slapped your money on the table as they banged the food down in from of you. It's sort of mutated into slap-up and you may sometimes hear bang-up meal too, though that's well out of fashion these days.

[Old_Geezer]

Slap up is an old expression meaning first rate, unsure when/where it was first used.

B00, judging by the icon that face cream isn't doing you any favours.

[B00]

That's not me! That's Barry the Blobfish, and he's a cutie pie.

[B00]

oh, and po,t kettle and black OG

<sniff, sulk>

;-)

[albaqwerty]

excuse me derek, B00, Barry isn't appearing to me, it's your poppy.

[B00]

Ctrl & F5'd it Alba?

Apologies Derek.

[jno]

OG, it's coz she is wearing the wrong sort of slap

[Old_Geezer]

Mine is an expensive Red Sea mud treatment, you can still see the bits that hasn't fallen off yet.

[derekpara]

Excuse me you lot. You are all great and I'd like to treat you all to a slap-up (or slap-down) meal, but BOO and I go back a long way, so sorry O.G, I'm turning you down for a faded poppy - and your treatment looks more like Dead Sea mud to me

What about the Ritz, BOO ?

Luv yer ! xxx

Oh, and thanks for the informative answers the rest of you.