“Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm”
William Manchester's book, Portrait of a President: John F. Kennedy in profile (1962), includes a famous line: "'Washington,' John Kennedy once said lightly, 'is a city of…
Archive for 11/2010
“My mother served nothing but leftovers; the original meal has never been found”
Calvin Trillin -- frequently described as "America's funniest food writer" -- is often credited with this joke about leftovers: "The most remarkable thing about my mother is…
St. Wapniacl (Cabinet mnemonic)
"St. Wapniacl" was the old mnemonic to remember the offices of the President of the United States' Cabinet. It was arranged in order of creation and importance: State, Treasury, War,…
“See The Dog Jump In A Circle. Leave Her Home To Entertain Every Visitor Here” (Cabinet mnemonic)
"St. Wapniacl" was the old mnemonic (since at least 1917) to remember the offices of the President of the United States' Cabinet. It was arranged in order of creation and importance:…
“Never Eat Chips, Eat Salad Sandwiches And Remain Young” (“necessary” spelling aid)
"Never Eat Chips/Cheese/Cake, Eat Salad/Salmon Sandwiches And Remain Young” is a mnemonic aid that some have used to spell the word “necessary.” The line “Never Eat Chips: Eat Salad…
“May I have a large container of coffee right now?” (Pi mnemonic for 3.141592653)
"Can/May I have a large container of coffee right now" is one of several mnemonic ways to remember the value of Pi (3.141592653). The word "may" has 3 letters, "I" has…
“A Rat In The House May/Might Eat The Ice Cream” (“arithmetic” spelling aid)
"A Rat In The House May/Might Eat The Ice Cream" is a mnemonic aid that some have used to spell the word "arithmetic." The line "a rat in the house may eat the ice…
“Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach” (taxonomy mnemonic)
"Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach" is a mnemonic device for remembering the biological groupings used in taxonomy: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. The…
“King Henry Died Monday Drinking Chocolate Milk” (metric mnemonic)
"King Henry Died Monday Drinking Chocolate Milk" is a mnemonic device for remembering the metric units, in descending order: kil-, hecto-, deka-, meter-, deci-, centi-, milli-. The…
“A refrigerator is a place to store leftovers until they are old enough to throw out”
"A refrigerator is a place where you store leftovers until they are ready to be thrown out" is an old comic observation. A newspaper comic caption on September 8, 1954 was: "Our…
“It never occurs to politicians that Lincoln is worth imitating as well as quoting”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is one of the most-quoted of American presidents. "It never occurs to politicians that Lincoln is worth imitating as well as quoting" is a quip that dates to…
“I can give you the formula for failure: Try to please everybody”
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”
"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”
"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?” (joke)
"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!”
"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…
Rubies of the Pines (New Jersey cranberries)
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…
Tough Shit, America (Transportation Security Administration or TSA nickname)
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…
“Congress: A man gets up to speak and says nothing, nobody listens, and then everybody disagrees”
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…
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble…”
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…