1930s: Jazzing the Big Apple

Purple Cow (grape soda float)

"Purple cow" was an 1895 poetic creation of Gelett Burgess (1866-1951). In 1930, "purple cow" became a popular drink of grape juice with ice cream. The modern "purple…

Purple Drank

"Purple drank" (also called "drank" and many other names) is a potentially dangerous drink that mixes cough syrup (containing codeine) with another drink, such as Sprite or rum…

Push-in robbery

The "push-in" robbery commonly occurs when someone waits for an elderly person to open the apartment door, and then pushes that person in the apartment and robs it. The term…

Putting Green (a bed of parsley)

A "putting green" is a bed of parsley, tightly packed like a golf putting green. The turn-in boxes at barbecue competitions feature "putting greens," some with shredded lettuce…

Pyramid Scheme

A "financial pyramid" is one where there are many people/investors at the bottom of the pyramid, but few at the top. A "pyramid scheme" pays off the oldest investors by getting…

Q-Head (barbecue enthusiast)

A "Q-head" is a barbecue (or "bbq" or simply "q") enthusiast. The term "Q-head" has been cited in print since at least 1998. Google Groups: alt.food.barbecue…

Quackarazzi (quack + paparazzi)

A rare Mandarin duck (with pink, purple, orange and emerald green plumage) was spotted in Central Park in December 2018. So many people took photos of the duck that a new word was coined --…