Lost Borough (Yonkers)
The City of New York was consolidated into five boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island) on January 1, 1898. Yonkers is located next to the Bronx and some believe that…
Buildings/Housing/Parks
Lost Decade (2000-2009)
The term "lost decade" originally referred to the 1990s Japanese economy that experienced flat growth rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 10,000 in March 1999 and 10,000 again in…
Lotto: “Dollar and a Dream” & “Hey, You Never Know” & “You’ve Gotta Be In It To Win It”
"All you need is a dollar and a dream" and "Hey, you never know" are two successful slogans of Lotto, the New York State lottery. The money from Lotto is supposed to go to New…
Lou Gehrig’s Disease; “Luckiest Man” speech
Lou Gehrig was one of baseball's greatest players. His streak of playing in consecutive games was broken only recently by Cal Ripkin. Gehrig retired from the game because of ALS, but the…
Loud & Tacky (Lord & Taylor nickname)
Lord & Taylor began in New York City in 1826 and is described in the Wikipedia as "the oldest upscale, specialty-retail department store chain in the United States." The nickname…
Louisiana: Pelican (nickname)
Entry in progress -- B.P. Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA)The Brown Pelican and Louisiana HistoryThe brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) has a storied…
Lounge Lizards; Tea Hounds; Tango Pirates
"Lounge lizards" and "tea hounds" and "tango pirates" (and "gigolos") infested Broadway about the year 1917. These were men who frequented the tea rooms.…
Lousy Line or Lousy Local (L or LL subway line)
The New York York City subway's L train has had some unflattering nicknames. When the L was called the LL (1967-1985), it was called the Lousy Line" or Lousy Local." When it became…
Lovable Losers (New York Mets; Chicago Cubs)
The New York Mets became a baseball expansion team in the early 1960s and proceeded to lose many, many games. However, New York fans still attended games to cheer them on. "Lovable Losers --…
Love Feast
A "love feast" is a meal eaten by a Christian congregation, as a token of fellowship. A political "love feast" is a gathering to display reconciliation or good feelings; a…
Love Handle (fat at the waist)
"Love handles" are the rolls of fat that one can pinch around one's waist; the fat is less euphemistically called a "tire" or a "muffin top." Many exercise…
Love Trade
Gold, according to Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors, is driven by the "fear trade" and the "love trade." Fear is when the financial press repeats stories of gloom and doom.…
Love Train (L subway line)
The "L" subway line (14th Street -- Canarsie Local) has been dubbed the "Love Train," after the 1972 song by The O'Jays. A Craigslist survey of its "Missed…
Love-locking (Love Lock or Love Padlock)
"Love-locking" is when someone puts a lock (called a "love lock" or "love padlock") on a pole -- such as a pole on a bridge or in a train station -- and throws away…
LOVEINT
The National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies have used such terms as "HUMINT" (human intelligence) and "SIGINT" (signals intelligence). In August 2013, the…
Low Information Voter (LIV)
A "low information voter" (LIV) is someone who doesn't follow politics closely, but votes on a candidate's perceived likability and public persona. The term "low…
Low Line
The High Line is a public park that was made from an abandoned elevated railroad on the west side of Manhattan. Two proposed New York City public parks grabbed the "Low Line" moniker. In…
Lower Eastpacking District (Lower East Side + Meatpacking District)
"Lower Eastpacking" (Lower East Side + Meatpacking District) is a neighborhood nickname that indicates that the Lower East Side has the same trendy restaurants and clubs as the…
Lowflation (low + inflation)
"Lewflation" (low + inflation) has been used infrequently since at least 1984. The term "lowflation" was popularized on March 4, 2014 on iMFdirect (a website of the…
LSD (Long Slow Distance)
Running author Joe Henderson published the book Long Slow Distance; The Humane Way to Train (1969). Others had also known that a good way to train was to run slowly over a long distance, but…