beer and skittles

Etymology
Found as early as 1837, in Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, where it appears in the form, “It’s a reg’lar holiday to them—all porter and skittles”. The most common form, as a negative admonition, appears to have been popularized by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's School Days (1857, see quotation below).

Noun

 * 1)   times; pleasure and leisure.

Usage notes

 * Often used in the negative, "not all beer and skittles".

Translations

 * Catalan: flors i violes
 * Dutch: rozengeur en maneschijn
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Icelandic: jólin
 * Spanish: no todo el monte es orégano
 * Swedish: dans på rosor