The Big Apple:

An etymological dictionary

Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.

Idaho Stop

The "Idaho stop" allows cyclists to treat a red light like a stop sign, and a stop sign like a yield sign. The law was developed in 1982 by Carl Bianchi, then the Administrative Director…

Glass Cliff

Women often break the "glass ceiling" to get a job. However, when women get an executive job, they often face a "glass cliff." As explained in "Introducing... the glass…

Nifty

Entry in progress -- B.P. "Nifty" is used in the financial terms "Nifty Fifty" and "Nifty Nine." "Nifty" is said in Wikipedia to mean "National Index…

Nifty Fifty

"Nifty Fifty" was a term popular in early 1970s to represent fifty growth stocks, with high price-to-earnings ratios, that drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The "Nifty…