Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
"There are old traders around and there are bold traders around, but there are no old, bold traders around" has been attributed to Bob Dinda, some time in the 1980s. The Wall Street maxim…
"A dollar three-eighty" means a small (or unknown) amount, given in a nonsense language. The term appears in the Texas Crude (1984) slang collection and it has been described (below) as…
New York dialect has historically pronounced "these-them-those" and "dese-dem-dose." A joke (cited in print to at least 1972) usually attributes this comical dialect to someone…
Flushing, Queens, is a Dutch name, corresponding to the city of Vlissingen in the Netherlands. However, a joke compares the Flushing name with the "flushing" of a toilet. "What do…
Austin's "South by Southwest" festival (since 1987) is often referred to by its initials (SXSW). In the 2000s, the festival grew very large, expanding beyond indie bands to include…
"Treasoncrat" could be a form of the words "treason" and "bureaucrat," but usage usually refers to a "Democrat." Users of "treasoncrat" have…
The green "Shamrock Shake" is a specialty of McDonald's restaurants, usually available only around St. Patrick's Day. McDonald's states that the shake was introduced in…
A "shamrock sandwich" is one specialty that is made for St. Patrick's Day. There appears to be no one recipe for the shamrock sandwich; in every decade, the recipes are different.…
A "shamrock cookie" is one specialty that is made for St. Patrick's Day. Shamrock cookies are usually sugar cookies, shaped into a shamrock (clover) and sprinkled with green sanding…
A "leprechaun cookie" is one specialty that is made for St. Patrick's Day. It's a cookie made to look like a leprechaun -- somewhat similar to gingerbread men. The recipes…
Peggy Orenstein wrote "The Femivore's Delemma" for the New York (NY) Times Sunday Magazine of March 14, 2010. A "femivore" is a feminist farmer -- and not someone who eats…
New York City cabbies have a reputation of reckless driving. A joke tells of a minister who gets into a cab and dies in a crash. St. Peter allows the taxi driver into heaven, but not the minister.…
"Congresscritter" (or "Congress critter" or "Congress-critter," and also in lowercase "congresscritter") is an unflattering nickname for a member of…
New Yorkers sometimes have a (probably unfair) reputation of being rude to tourists. If a tourist asks "Do you have the time?" or "Do you know the way to the Empire State…
A "hot dog with everything" is one that has been "dragged through the garden" --that is, loaded up with mustard, onions, sweet pickle relish, and various other toppings. A joke…
A popular New York City parking joke dates in print to at least 1997. A man (or woman -- the versions vary slightly) enters a bank and asks for a loan of $2,000 for a trip to Europe. The loan…
Manhattan directions don't have north, south, east and west. People are directed uptown, downtown, or crosstown (Hudson River or East River). A traditional story (cited in print since at least…
Texas has much real estate, but few parcels as valuable as the properties located in downtown Dallas. A popular joke from the 1950s usually has a woman asking a Texas millionaire if he's into…
The Russian writer Maxim Gorky visited Coney Island in 1907 and wrote that it was a "fantastic city all of fire" and a "city of fire," mainly because of all the lights and…
Red Hook was an industrial dock area of Brooklyn, but it suffered from years of disuse in the second half of the 20th century. In the 2000s, gentrification came to Red Hook in the form of a new…