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August 23, 2013
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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.…

March 3, 2010
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

April 8, 2018
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

March 3, 2010
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

May 18, 2010
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

May 4, 2023
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

March 22, 2020
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

January 21, 2022
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

January 8, 2023
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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).…

May 27, 2021
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

November 24, 2013
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

March 5, 2010
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

September 26, 2022
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

March 17, 2017
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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.…

July 14, 2014
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

August 9, 2010
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

December 11, 2013
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“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…

October 24, 2010
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“To have your head in the sand, you have to first be on your knees”

David Icke, an author of "New Age conspiracism," was on the Alex Jones Infowars radio show on October 24, 2010, repeating a favorite phrase: "To have your head in the sand, you have…

February 26, 2010
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“To hell with the Constitution when the people want coal!”

"To hell with the Constitution when the people want coal!" was supposedly said by Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), who tried to settle the coal strike of 1902 in any way he could. Early…

August 16, 2012
Government/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize” (Voltaire?)

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. -- Voltaire" suddenly became the subject of "Quote of the Day" on several websites in 2012, even…

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BARRY POPIK is a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of American Regional English, Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Yale Book of Quotations and Dictionary of Modern Proverbs. Since 1990 he has also been a regular contributor to Gerald Cohen's Comments on Etymology.

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