Airmelon (air + melon; jocular formation after “watermelon”)
Watermelon exists, so many people think there should be firemelon, earthmelon and airmelon (water-fire-earth-air + melon), all called the "elemelons" (elements + melons). "The…
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health
Airpocalypse (air + apocalypse)
"Airpocalypse" (air + apocalypse) is a term that was coined in January 2013 to describe China's air pollution problem. The "airpocalypse" term has been used in India and in…
Airport Test (employee selection test)
The "airport test" (also called the "Pittsburgh airport test") is one tool of employee selection. The interviewer asks himself or herself how it would feel being snowed in at…
Airport Test (Pittsburgh Airport Test)
The "airport test" (also called the "Pittsburgh airport test") is one tool of employee selection. The interviewer asks himself or herself how it would feel being snowed in at…
Aisle Hog
Steve Kornacki of Salon.com wrote before the January 2011 State of the Union (SOTU) address, "Meet Congress's 5 biggest aisle hogs: You see them every time a president enters the House to…
Akaushi Beef (Akaushi Cattle)
"Akaushi" is Japanese meaning "red cow" or "brown cattle," cited in English print since at least 1926. Akaushi cattle are a Wagyū breed, producing richly marbled and…
Al Dante (al dente + Dante Alighieri)
"Al dente" cooking should not be written as "al Dante" (as in Dante's Inferno), but there are jokes. "How to cook al-dante pasta?" was posted on the newsgroup…
Al Pastor (Cabrito Al Pastor; Carne Al Pastor; Tacos Al Pastor)
"Al pastor" means "shepherd style," a term originating in northern Mexico. "Al pastor" is meat carved from a vertical spit, often seaoned with pineapple, onions,…
Al-CIAda (Al-Qaeda + CIA)
Al-Qaeda (Arabic for "The Base") is a Sunni Islamic terrorist group founded in 1988-1989 by Osama bin Laden -- with the help of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) -- to fight the…
Al-Reuters or Al Reutzeera (Reuters nickname)
Reuters is an international news agency heaquartered in London. Some Reuters critics have claimed that the news organization has an anti-Western and pro-Muslim bias. This criticism intensified in…
Alabama: Lizard (nickname)
Entry in progress -- B.P. Google BooksApril 1845, Cincinnati Miscellany (Cincinnati, OH), pg. 240, col. 1:Alabama, Lizards. Chronicling America23 August 1845, Ripley (MS) Advertiser, pg. 1, cols.…
Alabama: Yellowhammer State (nickname)
Entry in progress -- B.P. OCLC WorldCat recordAlabama : the yellowhammer stateAuthor: Marathon Oil Company.; Rand McNally and Company.; Rand McNally Collection (Newberry Library)Publisher:…
Alain Locke and Harlem Renaissance as the “Big Apple” (1920s; suggested in 1988)
Alain Leroy Locke (1885-1954) was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar and a professor of philosophy at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He guest edited Survey Graphic in March 1925 for a…
Alambres (Mexican Shish Kebab)
Alambres (Spanish for "wires" or "skewers") is a dish that's sometimes called "Mexican Shish Kebab." It's served in fancier Tex-Mex restaurants. Iguana Grill…
Alamo (black cube at Astor Place)
"Alamo" is the name of the big black cube at Astor Place, opposite Cooper Union, in the middle of a traffic island. During a brief repair and cleaning in 2005, and everyone said,…
Alamo Bowl
The annual Alamo Bowl is a football bowl played between representatives of the Big 12 and Big Ten conferences. The first Alamo Bowl was played in 1993, and it takes place in the Alamodome in San…
Alamo Burger
Many restaurants offer something called an "Alamo Burger." Often, it's simply a hamburger with chili and cheddar cheese. (This "Alamo Burger" can be found at The Sports…
Alamo City (San Antonio nickname)
The Alamo is the popular national landmark in San Antonio. San Antonio itself was called "the Alamo City" by the mid-1800s. In the 1880s, "Alamo City" showed up in book titles.…
Alaska: The Last Frontier (nickname)
Entry in progress -- B.P. (Oxford English Dictionary)last frontier n. (a) orig. and chiefly U.S. that part of a country, region, etc., which is the last to be settled, explored, or developed; spec.…
Albany, Buffalo, New York, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers: Big Six (nickname)
The term "Big Six" has historical significance in New York. Since at least the 1950s, New York State's six largest cities have been called "Big Six." "With little…