Stocks haven't done well in the month of September. The annual Stock Trader's Almanac made it into a poem: September is when leaves and stocks tend to fallOn Wall Street it s the worst…
Hash has long been called "mystery" in restaurant slang. What is it? Where does it come from? An old joke has a customer ordering hash, and the waiter shouts to the kitchen, "The…
Diner lingo shortens a "grilled American cheese sandwich" to "GAC." The term "GAC" is pronounced and often written as "Jack." A "Jack" with bacon…
A 'honeymoon salad," as the old joke has it, is "lettuce alone" ("let us alone"). "Honeymoon salad" ("lettuce alone") is cited in print since 1925.…
Entry in progress -- B.P. Wikiquote: Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin (17 January 1706 – 17 April 1790) was an American inventor, journalist, printer, diplomat, and statesman.(...)Attributed.…
"Markets make managers" means that, for some money managers, it pays to be lucky as well as good. If the stock market goes up (or down) as the money manager had predicted, the market has…
"Animal crackers" (crackers made in animal shapes) have been sold commercially since the late 19th century. In an April 2, 1996 "Family Circus" comic strip, young Billy eats…
"Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!" This joke is cited in print in the March 1847 The Knickerbocker (New York monthly magazine). An 1872 variant is: "Why…
"What starts with T, ends with T, and is full of T? A teapot." This popular riddle has been cited in print since at least 1933. “How do you turn a T into a P?"/"Drink it"…
"Why don't cannibals eat clowns? Because they taste funny!" This popular cannibal-eats-clown joke (wordplay on "tastes funny" meaning "strange" or "not…
Jackson, Heights, Queens, has been called "Little India" since at least 1985 for its many Indian businesses at 74th Street area (between Roosevelt Avenue and 37th Avenue). Jackson Heights…
The Midwood section of Brooklyn -- on Coney Island Avenue, between Avenue H and Newkirk Avenue -- has been called "Little Pakistan" because of its many residents of Pakistani descent. The…
In 1985-86 (during the AIDS epidemic), health authorities encouraged people to practice "safe sex" and to "always use a condom." By 1987, restaurants parodied this with "Be…
"Little Bangladesh" is a neighborhood nickname for any area filled with people of Bangladesh descent. New York City had more than one "Little Bangladesh." The Kensington section…
"Little Manila" (after the capital of the Philippines) is a neighborhood nickname for a community filled with people of Filipino descent. There are many "Little Manilas" around…
"Little India" describes the area along Lexington Avenue (between East 26th and East 30th Streets) in Manhattan, just south of Murray Hill. The neighborhood features many Indian…
Jackson Heights, Queens, has been called "Little India" since at least 1985. In 1992, the 74th Street area (between Roosevelt Avenue and 37th Avenue) was officially named "Little…
"Little India" began on East 6th Street (between First and Second Avenues) in Manhattan in 1968, when the first Indian restaurant opened. By at least the 1990s, a joke has frequently been…
A joke is frequently told about an old person who loses his appetite for sex -- but not his appetite. His friends hire a prostitute for the old man's birthday. "Would you like to have…
Derivatives (such as forwards, futures, options, and swaps) can be risky financial investments. Warren Buffett, C.E.O. of Berkshire Hathway, wrote in its 2002 annual report (published in March…