Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
Some people believe that if you have to pay property tax (and government can take your property for non-payment of this tax), then you really don't own the property. "If you have to pay a…
Delivery vehicles (such as UPS) often have their employees knock on a door, and then walk away before the person can answer. "As a kid, did you ever knock on people's doors and run away…
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic led to vaccines. Some people who distrusted the vaccines called them "quackcine" (quack + vaccine) or "quacksine" or "quackxine" or…
"Bad salad" and "sad ballad" is a spoonerism. "GAYLORD CARTER, in his Grin, Sing and Bear It (if you can) Club, at Don Lee's yesterday morning, after a beautiful…
"Burger" is sometimes written as "BrrrrGrrrr," with the joking explanation that it's eaten by someone who is cold (brrrr) and angry (grrrr). "Hamburger" is…
Entry in progress -- BP
The word "briefly" is not composed of the words "brie" (a soft French cheese) and "fly (an insect), but there are jokes. "I wonder what would happen if you put an…
"Bad salad" and "sad ballad" is a spoonerism. "GAYLORD CARTER, in his Grin, Sing and Bear It (if you can) Club, at Don Lee's yesterday morning, after a beautiful…
"Burger" is sometimes written as "BrrrrGrrrr," with the joking explanation that it's eaten by someone who is cold (brrrr) and angry (grrrr). "Hamburger" is…
A Sherlock Holmes riddle is: Q: Why are Sherlock Holmes' taxes so low?A: He's a master of deduction. "Why doesn’t Sherlock Holmes pay a lot of taxes? He’s a master of…
"Bad salad" and "sad ballad" is a spoonerism. "GAYLORD CARTER, in his Grin, Sing and Bear It (if you can) Club, at Don Lee's yesterday morning, after a beautiful…
The word "briefly" is not composed of the words "brie" (a soft French cheese) and "fly (an insect), but there are jokes. "I wonder what would happen if you put an…
The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps was founded in 1979 as the New York Gay Community Marching Band by Nancy Corporon (music director) and Bob Wolff (general manager). The name change to…
Black Ivory, an American R&B group formed in Harlem in 1969, was started by Leroy Burgess, Stuart Bascombe and Russell Patterson. The album Hangin' Heavy (1979) opens with "Big Apple…
"Monkey business" does not mean that a monkey owns or runs a business, but there are jokes. "You're telling me a monkey runs this business?" was posted on Twitter by…
John S. Wilson (1913-2002) was a music critic for the New York (NY) Times and one of the country's leading jazz authorities. He wrote about New York City's role in the jazz world in…
"Monkey business" does not mean that a monkey owns or runs a business, but there are jokes. "You're telling me a monkey runs this business?" was posted on Twitter by…
"Monkey business" does not mean that a monkey owns or runs a business, but there are jokes. "You're telling me a monkey runs this business?" was posted on Twitter by…
Stephen Longstreet (1907-2002) frequently wrote about jazz. In his book The Real Jazz: Old and New (1956) -- not available for preview on Google Books -- he wrote: "New York is the Big…
A cat riddle is: Q: Where do cats go to have fun?A: An a-mews-ment park. "Where do cats go to have fun? A"mews"ment park...." was posted on Twitter by Ravtej Singh on February…