Freedom of the City
The "Freedom of the City" was an honor that has been replace by the "key to the city." It was a scroll that gave you citizenship privileges. Like the key to the city, it was…
Fresh Air Fund
Did the Fresh Air Fund start in 1877, as its history says? Or did it start in 1869? I found that it began under William A. Muhlenberg in 1869. Dr. Muhlenberg (see the 1898 article below, a review…
Fugeddaboutit! (“forget about it”)
"Fugeddaboutit" is not in Irving Lewis Allen's City in Slang (1993). I remember its use in a popular 1990s radio ad for Tops Appliance City. The Works Progress Administration in the…
Get the hook!
"Get the hook!" This was a cry from the audience to get a bad performer off the stage. Someone in the wings would get a hooked pole and hook the performer away. "The hook" was…
Ghost Yard (207th Street maintenance yard)
The MTA's 207th Street maintenance yard on the West Side of Manhattan is known as the "ghost yard," for varying reasons. http://www.at149st.com/ghosty.htmlTHE GHOST YARD The Ghost…
Give me your tired, your poor (“The New Colossus”)
Emma Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus" poem in 1883. It was affixed to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903. She did not coin the term "new Colossus." See the 1878…
Go West, Young Man
"Go West, young man" is associated with New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley (1811-1872). The Tribune, unlike the New York
Great Mistake of 1898 (Brooklyn view of New York City unification)
New York City was consolidated in 1898; Brooklyn went from a city to just one of five boroughs. Many Brooklynities were against the consolidation and called it the "Great Mistake of…
Green Book (Official Directory)
"The Green Book" is called that because - surprise! - it's green. The formal name is the "Official Directory," but it was soon dubbed the "little green book." It…
Ground Zero
After the terrorism of September 11, 2001, the location of the World Trade Center was quickly and popularly called "Ground Zero." This term was coined many years before--after the atom…
Hanging for murder is played out in New York
"Hanging for murder is played out in New York" is a phrase associated with the Tombs prison in early 1870. 2 April 1970, Punchinello, pp. 3-4:PUNCHINELLO will only add that he would at…
Harlem Hilton (FDNY Engine 69, Ladder 28)
FDNY Engine 69, Ladder 28, Battalion 16 is located at 248 West 143rd Street, in a building built in 1917. The firehouse has been called the "Harlem Hilton" since at least 1980. There is…
How am I doing?
Ed Koch made "How am I doing?" famous when he ran successfully for mayor in 1977. However, this was a popular line in the 1930s as well. 17 January 1932, Washington Post, pg.…
How Staten Island got its name (“Is that an island?” joke)
Staten Island was named in honor of the States General in the Netherlands, but an alternative joke etymology spread in the 1930s and 1940s and is still told. The Dutch explorers came into New York…
Hudson Mustache
The term "Hudson (River) mustache" was popularized in the New York (NY) Times article "River Grime? Triathletes Are Swimming in It" by Lindsay Crouse, published on August 3.…
Hudson River Crawl
"Hudson River Crawl" was the name that swimmers of the Hudson River would apply to...well, I'll let them used their own words for it.…
I’d rather be a lamppost in New York than mayor anywhere else
This saying goes way, way back. It has been said in various forms; a friend of mine remembers the boxer Sonny Liston saying that he'd rather be a lamppost in Harlem than mayor of Philadelphia.…
If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere
if I can make it there, I'll make it anywhereIt's up to you, New York, New York--The song "New York, New York" (1977) by Fred Ebb and John Kander This was a familiar saying in…
In New York they ask, how much is he worth?
"In Boston they ask, how much does he know? In New York, how much is he worth? In Philadelphia, who were his parents?" This line has been credited to Mark Twain. January 1895, North…
Inner Circle
The "Inner Circle" is the long-running satirical show where political writers and politicians make fun of themselves. The 1997 drag appearance of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will long be…