Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
A popular mathematical pizza joke that has been printed on posters is: Q: What is the volume of an object with depth a and radius z?A: Pi*z*z*a. The joke has been cited in print since at least…
"A guy walks into a bar..." is a typical form of what has been called the "bar joke." A popular science joke is: "A room-temperature superconductor walks into a bar. The…
"A guy walks into a bar..." is a typical form of what has been called the "bar joke." A popular science joke is: "Two bacteria walk into a bar. The bartender says, 'We…
"A guy walks into a bar..." is a typical form of what has been called the "bar joke." One popular bar joke is: "Bacon and eggs walk into a bar. The bartender says,…
"A guy walks into a bar..." is a typical form of what has been called the "bar joke." One popular bar joke is: "A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says,…
A "glue guy" is usually not the biggest star, but a player who does all the little things to help a team win. THe term was used in baseball in the 1940s and 1950s. "(New York Yankees…
There's an old riddle about the tallest building: Q: What’s the tallest building? A: A library because it has so many stories. The joke has been cited in print since at least 1929. 22…
"Herbivore" (an animal that only eats plants) sounds like "her before," bringing on the obvious pun: "This girl said she knew me from a vegetarian club, but I’d never met…
"I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me" is a joke that became popular on the Internet in the late 1990s, but is much older. "I have always wondered…
"If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated" is a popular sports adage. It's often recommended to drink water before, during and after a workout. The origin of the adage…
"I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words" os a jocular saying that has been printed on an ecard. The saying was on Twitter on February 24, 2011. Similar jokes…
"I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx" is a popular pun on Twitter. The joke has been cited in print since at least 2007 and is of unknown authorship.…
"How does Moses make his coffee/tea? Hebrews it" is a popular pun that has been printed on many images. The tea version is the most popular and has been cited in print since at least July…
A popular pun is told about food coloring: "Yesterday I accidentally swallowed some food coloring. The doctor says I'm OK, but I feel like I've dyed a little inside." The joke…
Rou jia mo (also spelled as "roujiamo") is a meat sandwich specialty from China's Shaanxi Province. Pork, lamb, beef, chicken or another filling is stewed with spices (such as…
The "Butterfield effect" (sometimes called the 'Butterfield fallacy" or the "Butterfield paradoz") is named after former New York (NY) Times journalist Fox…
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) wrote in the concurring opinion in Brown v. Allen (1953): "There is no doubt that if there were a super-Supreme Court, a substantial…
"Old Ben Franklin may have discovered electricity, but it took that lad who invented the meter to capitalize on it" is a jocular one-line saying that has been frequently reprinted. The…
"Bilingual education makes you illiterate in two languages" is an old satiric remark about bilingual education. "One delegate said that in Eire, people are rapidly becoming…
"Baseball is weird" (or "baseball is a weird game") is a common saying. Unlike sports such as football, basketball, hockey and soccer, there is no clock is baseball. There is no…