What phrases do you usually use to express a certainty? For example, “I bet your bottom dollar.”

A popular phrase used in the Georgian era, and almost exclusively in the Georgian era, was “All Lombard Street to a China orange.”

This was a way of saying the odds are in your favour, or this is a sure bet.

This gem popped up in the late 18th century and peaked in the early 19th century. Its first appearance in writing was in the 1763 The Citizen. You’ll spot it in the 1790s The Sporting Magazine, and even in Dickens’ Pickwick Papers as late as 1836 (though its popularity in usage had waned, it stuck around for a bit longer!). Variations appeared from plays to poetry, each variation offering the same sort of fanciful betting comparison. Variations may include Lombard Street, China orange, or neither, such as this example: “Pompey’s Pillar to a stick of sealing wax.”

Lombard Street was London’s bustling banking hub (think Wall Street!). Lombard Street stood for wealth and certainty.

A “China orange,” however, was nothing more than a common orange and worth mere pennies.

The phrase started amongst gamblers and traders, but soon spread to polite society as a cheeky way to flaunt confidence. And yes, you would easily have heard it from the lips of our heroines. The era was, after all, obsessed with betting on everything from horse races to who would faint at a ball.  

Here are a couple of examples of it in use:

"I'd wager all Lombard Street to a China orange that Miss Bennet snares Mr. Darcy by summer!"

"He thinks he'll outdance me at the ball? It's all Lombard Street to a China orange I'll leave him in the dust."

What’s a variation of this you might start using? Personally, I might have to bring the original back! I’ll start here: All Lombard Street to a China orange I’ll finish this coffee in under a quarter hour!

To read a bit more about the phrase: https://wordhistories.net/2017/10/12/lombard-street-china-orange/