Investigating the origins of American words, names, quotations and phrases. Over 41,000 entries.
William F. Buckley, Jr. ran in 1965 for mayor of New York City. As a Conservative. He did get about 13% of he vote. He was asked what he would do if he won the race. Buckley issued his classic…
"Broadway brownie" has been trademarked by Whole Foods, but other establishments have sold it. It's just a name. Is it different than any other brownie? (Google)Southern…
The "Taste of Chinatown" is a recent event. It was held in 2004 and 2005 and appears that it will be held annually. It features mostly Chinese food, of course.…
The "Lindy Hop" is said to have started at the Savoy Ballroom, on Lenox Avenue in Harlem. The term "Lindy Hop" came into almost immediate use after Charles Lindbergh's…
"FIRE" stands for "Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate." It's New York City's largest industry. It's not known who first coined the "FIRE" acronym…
Housing bubble? What housing bubble? Do you mean that the space of a closet doesn't normally cost half a million dollars? "Bubbles" are for bathtubs" is a slogan that is making…
The "flip tax" is also called the "transfer tax." It started in the 1970s, with the co-op apartment boom. People who sold or "flipped" their co-ops would have to pay a…
New York CIty has a "biathlon" and a "triathlon." The "triathlon" was organized by Daniel Doctoroff, the man also behind New York's 2012 Olympic bid.…
"SoBro" is the "South Bronx." The nickname "SoBro" had been in various uses since at least the 1970s and 1980s, but became a trendy nickname in 2005. SoBROAbout…
The Rucker basketball tournament in Harlem was conceived in the 1940s and 1950s by Holcombe Rucker, a parks department worker who died of cancer in 1965 at age 38. His motto was "each one…
The annual "Reggae Carifest" has been held in Forest Hills, Queens and Randall's Island and Coney Island. It's been an annual event since 1998.…
Joseph Papp (1921-1991) founded the New York Shakespeare Festival and "Shakespeare in the Park" in the 1950s. Free Shakespeare in the summer in Central Park is now a ritual, but Papp…
Balducci's used to be on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village. It's now opening a store on 14th Street and Eighth Avenue. "Food Lover's Market" is a recent (2004)…
C.H.U.D. was a 1984 movie about the "cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers" of New York City. The term "chud" is still sometimes used. http://www.pseudodictionary.comchud…
The "Taste of the Village" (Greenwich Village, of course) began in 2003. Greenwich Village has loads of restaurants you can visit every day; the "taste" is just a small taste.…
The "Big Apple Grapple" is the big event in the arm wrestling world. The first such event was in the late 1970s; it used to take place in the World Trade Center.…
Lincoln Center's "Mostly Mozart" festival includes music mostly by Mozart, but also by Haydn and Schubert. The series began in 1966.…
"Brownstone" apartments can be found in some of the older sections of New York. They were popular in the early 19th century. The term probably originated in New York. (Oxford English…
"No pork on my fork" is a phrase associated with the Nation of Islam. It's the name of a Harlem restaurant and it has been used in rap lyrics. Big Daddy Kane is a member of The Five…
The ultra-expensive restaurants of the Time Warner Center (Columbus Circle) organized a first "Circle of Taste" in 2005. This could become an annual charity event.…