“Three tickets come out of Iowa” (Iowa caucus adage)
The Iowa caucuses provide the first presidential voting in the United States. The political proverb is that "three tickets come out of Iowa" -- the first, second, and third place caucus…
“Throw money at a problem” (Washington reflex)
"Too often our Washington reflex is to discover a problem and then to throw money at it, hoping that somehow it will go away" said Kenneth Keating (1900-1975), the Republican senator from…
“Throw the book at him/her” (give the maximum penalty)
To legally "throw the book at" someone is to charge a person (if a prosecutor) or penalize a person (if a judge) very severely. The "book" is a law book, and the throwing is…
“Throw the rascals in!”
"Turn the rascals out" was a popular campaign slogan of 1872. Adlai Stevenson II (1900-1965) famously reversed the slogan when criticizing the Eisenhower administration in 1952.…
“Throw the rascals out!”
Entry in progress -- B.P. A modern jocular variant is "Throw the Rascals In!" Wikipedia: List of U.S. presidential campaign slogansTurn the Rascals Out - 1872 anti-Grant slogan against…
“Throwing acid is wrong—in some people’s eyes”
"Throwing acid is wrong -- in some people's eyes" is a jocular saying ("in some people's eyes" is an expression usually not meant to be taken literally) that has been…
“Ticker tape ain’t spaghetti”
"Ticker tape ain't spaghetti," said Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947), the director general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, in March 1946. La Guardia…
“Tight as a tick” (said of a close election)
A close political election is often said to be "tight as a tick." Television broadcast journalist Dan Rather (who frequently uses Texas expressions generally unknown to most of his…
“TIL the Pentagon was supposed to be the Octagon, but the contractor kept cutting corners”
The Pentagon is a five-sided building that is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. A…
“Time to change from my daytime pajamas to my nighttime pajamas” (quarantine joke)
"Getting ready to change from my daytime pajamas into my nighttime pajamas" -- describing someone who works at home, or is a home-bound loser -- is a saying that has been printed on many…
“Time to start replacing the term ‘vaccine hesitancy’ with ‘survival instinct’”
Entry in progress -- BP TwitterChewie Killmouski @Chewie65354432Time to start replacing the term "vaccine hesitancy" with "survival instinct"!1:33 AM · May 31, 2021·Twitter…
“Tinfoil hats are an invention of the Aluminati”
"Tin foil hat" (from aluminum foil) is used as a stereotype for something worn by a conspiracy theorist, and several jokes mention the "Aluminati" (aluminum + Illuminati).…
“Tired: summer bodies. Wired: summer antibodies”
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic made people desire antibodies rather than summer bodies. "Last year we wanted summer bodies. Now all we want is antibodies" was posted on Twitter by…
“To anger a conservative, lie to him: to anger a liberal, tell him the truth”
"To anger a conservative, lie to him: to anger a liberal, tell him the truth" is a quotation that is often credited to Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), but there is no evidence that he…
“To be disillusioned, one first must be illusioned”
"To become disillusioned you must earlier have been illusioned," wrote Paul Fussell in 1982. Fussell was referring to childhood and growing up. Voters often become disillusioned with a…
“To be hated for loving freedom has been the weirdest experience of my life”
"To be hated for loving freedom has been the weirdest experience of my life" is a saying that has been printed on several images. "To be hated for loving freedom has been the…
“To be Irish is to know that, in the end, the world will break your heart”
"To be Irish is to know that, in the end, the world will break your heart" is a paraphrase of a 1963 remark by Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), then Assistant Secretary of Labor. U.S.…
“To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens”
"To conquer a nation, first diarm its citizens" was credited to Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in 1933 (when he became chancellor of Germany) as cited on Twitter on June 15, 2012. There is no…
“To go forward, put it in D; to go backward, put it in R” (D=drive, Democrat; R=reverse, Republican)
“All you ever needed to know about this election, you’ve learned from driving. If you want to go backward, you put it in R. But if you want to go forward, you put it in D," said Iowan Tom…
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart”
"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart" is sometimes credited to Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), but there is no evidence to indicate that she has anything to…