Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
Saturday Night Live (SNL) has broadcast live from New York City on NBC television on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. Not everyone thinks that SNL's sketch comedy is funny. SNL has been…
"Meat cloud" is a condition that affected the New York Times building from Wolfgang's Steakhouse; The Newspaper Guild of New York released on March 11, 2014, "'Meat…
The treadmill is a popular piece of exercise equipment; those who don't like the treadmill have nicknamed it "dreadmill" (dread + treadmill). "Dreadmill" has been cited in…
"Bleisure" (business + leisure) is a buzzword in the travel industry. "Bleisure" has been cited in print since at least 2008 and made many newspaper and magazine articles in…
U.S. President Ronald Reagan said at a prayer breakfast in Dallas on August 23, 1984: "Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God,…
Gold is sometimes nicknamed "yellow dog" or "yellow dawg" or "yaller dawg." "Not bad considering everyone was slamming the yellow dawg" was cited in print in…
When recreational marijuana became legal in states, the traditional "bed and breakfast" became a "bud and breakfast," with marijuana part of the appeal. ""We are going…
"Support our troops -- We'll need them to overthrow our government" is a popular bumper sticker saying. "Support our troops.....we need them to overthrow our government!"…
Adidas manufactures sports shoes and sports clothing. The company name is from its founder, Adolf Dassler. ("Adi" is a nickname for Adolf and "Das" is from "Dassler.")…
Professional sports clubs hold a player draft; they select players by submitting a draft card to the podium when it's their turn to draft. It often happens that when a team's draft time…
"Con-a-sewer" is a jocular spelling of "connoisseur." A "con-a-sewer" might have discriminating tastes, but "connoisseur" might be too highfalutin to…
"Legalize gay marijuana/weed" is a nonsense saying that has been printed on many gift items, such as T-shirts and bumper stickers. The saying combines "legalize gay marriage"…
"Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs" is printed on many posters, with credit to American businessman Farrah Gray. "If you don't build your own…
"The dollar votes more times than the man" means that one person has only one vote, but one rich person can use his or her money to influence the vote many times. American political…
Barbecue is often served in a shack -- and not at a fancy restaurant. The main barbecue feature is a barbecue pit and the smoke that it adds to the food; this style of cooking can't be made in…
"Lewflation" (low + inflation) has been used infrequently since at least 1984. The term "lowflation" was popularized on March 4, 2014 on iMFdirect (a website of the…
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) and Dean Martin (1917-1995) were two members of the "Rat Pack" who performed in Las Vegas in the 1960s. One comedy bit had one ask the other, "How do you…
"The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly" has been credited to Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) since at least 1884, but there is no evidence that he ever said it.…
"Smart girls open their minds, easy girls open their legs, (and) foolish girls open their hearts" is a saying that has been printed on posters and has been very popular on Twitter.…
"Pseudocracy" (pseudo + democracy) has been infrequently used for many years by several independent sources. H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) wrote in a parody of T. S. Eliot's "The…