Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
A popular business joke shows the difference between sales promises and business reality. A man dies and is told that he can tour heaven and hell, and then choose which place to spend eternity. He…
The "lone star tick" (Amblyomma americanum) has been cited in print since at least 1899. The tick can be found in Texas, but also throughout the Midwest and in the east coast of the…
"Play me or trade me" is a demand that a little-used player makes to the management of the team. "Trade me or play me" was supposedly said by St. Louis Cardinals player Pepper…
"The difference between the Boy Scouts and the Army is that the Scouts have adult supervision" is a joke that was cited in a 1970 book about he Vietnam War. "Army" is often…
"Raining cats and dogs" is an old expression for a heavy rain. It does not mean a literal rain of animals, but there is a weather joke: "What’s worse than raining cats and dogs?…
Entry in progress -- B.P. Wikipedia: Brat PackThe Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. First…
The expression "never try to catch a falling knife" means not to invest in a stock that is plunging -- it can always go lower, and it's dificult to determine when the price has hit a…
Entry in progress -- B.P. Wikipedia: Rat PackThe Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to…
New York City is the 'Big Apple," and Lagos, Nigeria (the most populous city in Africa) has sometimes been called "Big Agbalumo." Agbalumo is the Nigerian name for the…
The "Department of Paperwork" is a nickname for any department of government that requires piles of often-meaningless paperwork. Such deparments in the United States government might…
An old joke describes a rich person who claims to have grown up surrounded by poverty -- the maid was poor, the butler was poor, the chauffeur was poor and the gardener was poor. The joke dates to…
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is a channel that is available on many cable systems around the world. The BBC has been given the backronym (back acronym) of "British Bullshit…
A "milkaholic" (milk + -aholic, related to "alcoholic") is a person who is addicted to drinking milk. "Our daughter, age two, is a 'milkaholic'" was cited in…
"If actors are having fun, the audience will have fun, too" is a theatre and film adage of uncertain origin. "The actors are having fun playing their parts and because of their…
To "throw nickels like manhole covers" is not to throw nickels at all. (Manhole covers are heavy and are almsot impossible to throw.) The saying implies that a person is stingy with…
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is a channel that is available on many cable systems around the world. The BBC has been given the backronym (back acronym) of "British Brainwashing…
American economist and political philosopher Thomas Sowell wrote in a syndicated newspaper column in May 1994: "I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money…
AMerican journalist and writer Joe Sobran (1946-2010) wrote in The Economics of Liberty (1990); In the current political vocabulary, 'need' means wanting to get someone else's money.…
"'Moderate Republican' -- that's kind of like having a gun rack on a Volvo" (also, "'Compassionate Conservative -- that's kind of like having a gun rack on a…
A marksman who "can't hit the broad side (broadside) of a barn" is a very poor marksman. "You can't hit the broadside of a barn!" was cited in print in 1852. The idiom…