The Big Apple:

An etymological dictionary

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

Dumpster Diving (Dumpster Pool)

'Dumpster diving" has meant, since the early 1980s, to search through a dumpter for food or other items. What is "trash" to the person who throw the item into a dumpster might…

Crap Metro (Cap Metro nickname)

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority ("Cap Metro") has served Austin (the capital of Texas) since 1986. By at least 2000, "Cap Metro" has been derided as 'Crap…

Farm-to-Table

"Farm-to-table" (or, without the hyphens, "farm to table") is a term that indicates that the restaurant (or other place of eating) uses fresh ingredients, locally grown and…

Roof-to-Table (Rooftop-to-Table)

"Roof-to table" (sometimes written without hyphens as "roof to table" and less-frequently written as "rooftop-to-table") indicates that the food comes from a rooftop…

“Where the hell is Elroy, Texas?”

"Where the hell is Elroy, Texas?" is a bumper sticker slogan of Wyman Gilliam, owner of Wild Bubba's Wild Game Grill in Elroy. The small community of Elroy is located in Travis…