Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
Longtime New York (NY) World editor Herbert Bayard Swope (1882-1958) said at a December 1950 dinner in his honor, as reported by Leonard Lyons: "Swope responded thus: He said that from the…
"On Thanksgiving Day all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment — halftime" is a quip showing that televised football games are as much part of the Thanksgiving…
"It's not the minutes at the table that make you fat -- it's the seconds" is a pun that plays upon the word "seconds" (meaning "second helpings" or…
"How many cooks does it take to stuff a turkey? One, but you really have to squeeze him in!" The turkey-stuffing joke -- included in many Thanksgiving joke collections -- has been cited…
"May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off (of) your thighs!" is the last line of a short poem about Thanksgiving food. The poem has been cited in print since at least 1989. In 2001, the…
New Jersey's Pine Barrens helps make New Jersey the third largest cranberry producing state. Its cranberries have been dubbed "The Rubies of the Pines" since at least 1991. Union…
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began in 2001 under the U.S. Department of Transportation; in 2003, TSA was moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. New airport scanners…
New York (NY) Post Broadway columnist Leonard Lyons wrote this in a 1941 column: "'Congress is so strange,' reported Boris Marshalov, the Russian actor and dramatic coach, after a…
British writer Ernest Benn (1875-1954) has been quoted from 1930: "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the…
Entry in progress -- B.P, Wikipedia: ContangoContango is a term used in the futures market to describe an upward sloping forward curve (as in the normal yield curve). Such a forward curve is said…
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began in 2001 under the U.S. Department of Transportation; in 2003, TSA was moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The TSA's…
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began in 2001 under the U.S. Department of Transportation; in 2003, TSA was moved to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. New airport scanners…
Sarah Palin (the former governor of Alaska and Republican party candidate for vice president in 2008) tweeted on March 23, 2010: "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America:…
"GOPbagger" (GOP + teabagger) is an epithet for a Republican who supports tea party principles. The term is considered derogatory because of the sexual slang use of the word…
A "Teapublican" (also "TEApublican" or "TeaPublican") is a tea party Republican, supporting tea party ideals of low taxes and limited government. The opposite of a…
"Eat fish, live longer" is the slogan of Brooklyn's M. Slavin & Sons, Ltd., trademarked with a "first use" date of 1960. The slogan was also used by Paddy's Clam…
"Mobzdale" or "Mobsdale" is a nickname for Rosedale, Queens, that has been cited in print since at least 2003. The nickname has been used in Rosedale's large…
"Home of the Haze" is a nickname for Washington Heights. The nickname might come from the haze of the Hudson River, but is most clearly identified with the drug "haze" or…
"If you can read this, thank a teacher; If you're reading this in English, thank a soldier" is a patriotic bumper sticker saying that dates to at least December 2001. The origin of…
Conservative radio and television commentator Glenn Beck posted audio on his blog The Blaze, on November 16, 2010, of a comment at a National Socialist strategy session: "The labor movement…