Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
Newspapers.com 27 September 1981, The Herald Statesman (Yonkers, NY), "Counterwailing" by Dan Carlinsky, Suburdia Today, pg. 18, col. 4: 21. Two of an item for the same person or table.…
Newspapers.com 27 September 1981, The Herald Statesman (Yonkers, NY), "Counterwailing" by Dan Carlinsky, Suburdia Today, pg. 18, col. 4: 14. Special order. Newspapers.com 10 July 1985,…
Newspapers.com 27 September 1981, The Herald Statesman (Yonkers, NY), "Counterwailing" by Dan Carlinsky, Suburdia Today, pg. 18, col. 4: 41. Glass of milk. 42 means two glasses of milk,…
Newspapers.com 10 June 1929, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, "Pittsburghesque" by Charles F. Danver, pg. 8, col. 6: The Soda Jerkers' Code.The young bartenders in one of those big…
Newspapers.com 29 March 1936, Helena (MT) Daily Independent, "National Youth Administration Compiles Lexicon of the Soda Jerker After Five Months Work" by Helen Dallas, pg. 2, col. 8: It…
Newspapers.com17 September 1971, The Messenger (Madisonville, KY), "'Hash-House Greek' Colorful U.S. Slang" by Dan Carlinsky (New York Times), pg. 6, col. 3: nineteen. Banana…
Newspapers.com23 May 1933, Courier-Post (Camden, NJ), "On Broadway" by Walter Winchell, pg. 10, col. 4: Code. A Hollywood soda-jerker forwards this glossary of soda-fountain lingo out…
Newspapers.com 10 August 1941, Atlanta (GA) Constitution, "The Code that Speeds Soda Fountain Service" by Yolande Gwin, Magazine, sec. D, pg. 5, col. 7: Vegetable soup, termed as…
Newspapers.com 20 October 1921, San Antonio (TX) Evening News, "Dr. Socrates Cicero Jones...," pg. 14, col. 4: 81, a glass of water. Newspapers.com 27 June 1926, The Morning Examiner…
Newspapers.com 6 June 1922, Oklahoma City (OK) Times, "Chatter of Soda Jerkers Has a Jazz Flavor All Its Own, Experts Declare," pg. 7, col. 7: "Sky juice, sky high, heavey on the…
Newspapers.com 10 June 1929, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, "Pittsburghesque" by Charles F. Danver, pg. 8, col. 6: The Soda Jerkers' Code.The young bartenders in one of those big…
Newspapers.com 10 June 1929, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, "Pittsburghesque" by Charles F. Danver, pg. 8, col. 6: The Soda Jerkers' Code.The young bartenders in one of those big…
Newspapers.com 10 June 1929, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, "Pittsburghesque" by Charles F. Danver, pg. 8, col. 6: The Soda Jerkers' Code.The young bartenders in one of those big…
Newspapers.com 10 June 1929, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, "Pittsburghesque" by Charles F. Danver, pg. 8, col. 6: The Soda Jerkers' Code.The young bartenders in one of those big…
Newspapers.com 10 June 1929, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, "Pittsburghesque" by Charles F. Danver, pg. 8, col. 6: The Soda Jerkers' Code.The young bartenders in one of those big…
"Tin fanny -- Old taxicab" was included in a glossary of taxi slang issued by the New York Taxicab Chamber of Commerce, and printed in the Springfield (MA) Daily Republican on January 7,…
Jewish law does not permit eating pork. This fact found its way into restaurant slang, where “synagogue twins” became the slang for an order of fried ham and eggs. "'Synagogue…
Many people discover that something is wrong with them. This joke was posted on X/Twitter by "user" on January 15, 2026, and it received over 36,000 likes: "From a very young age I…
A "coffee-pot lawyer" is a New York City term for a taxicab driver who is opinionated and very talkative. The term has been cited from 1932 and is of mostly historical interest today.…
Wiktionary: criss-cross applesauce Adverb criss-cross applesauce (not comparable) 1. (childish, US, regional, idiomatic) (of sitting): Cross-legged. Sit criss-cross applesauce. Usage notes…