Lawyer’s Billable Hours (lawyer joke)
A popular lawyer joke about billable hours dates in print to at least the early 1980s. A lawyer died at a young age and complained to St. Peter in heaven that he was taken from the earth too soon.…
Lawyer’s Brain (lawyer joke)
A popular lawyer joke involves the price of a lawyer's brain relative to brains of other professions. The joke has been cited in print since at least 1994 and is of unknown authorship. The…
Layaway
A "layaway" (or "lay-away") plan is one where a customer desires an item and puts a deposit on it, and the retailer "lays the item away" for the customer until the…
Lazy Susan
A "lazy Susan" is a rotating tray, placed upon a dining table for easy use in a diner's access to food (especially condiments). The name "lazy Susan" is cited from at least…
Leading from Behind
"Leading from behind" can describe someone who is afraid of the action. In Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, The Gondoliers (1889), it was said of the Duke of Plaza-Toro: "In…
Leaky Roof Circuit (small-time racetracks)
The "leaky roof circuit" (also called the "frying pan circuit") referred to the small-time racetracks in horceracing, but the term was also used in baseball and ice hockey. The…
Lear Jet Liberal (Learjet Liberal)
"Lear jet liberal" (or "Learjet liberal") is a more modern version of the 1969 New York City term, "limousine liberal." A "Learjet liberal" might be a person…
Leave Island Any Time (LIAT backronymic nickname)
LIAT stands for Leeward Islands Air Transport and is a Caribbean airline headquartered in Antigua. The LIAT backronymic (back acronym) nicknames of "Leave Islands Any Time" and…
Lechislator (lecher/lecherous + legislator); Lechislature
"Lechislator" (lecher/lecherous + legislator) and "lechislature" (lecher/lecherous + legislature) are portmanteau words that have been infrequently used. "LECHISLATOR:…
Led Robster or Lead Robster (Red Lobster nickname)
Red Lobster seafood restaurant was founded in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968. The spoonerism of the Red Lobster name -- "Led Robster" or "Lead Robster" -- has been cited in print…
Lee Harvey [lastname] (crime patsy nickname)
Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963) was the accused lone assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, although Oswald called himself a patsy and said that he never shot anyone.…
Leftard (left + retard)
"Leftard" (left + retard) is an epithet used by some on the political right against the political left. "Leftard" has been cited in print since August 2004. Similar terms…
Leftosphere (left blogosphere)
The "lefttosphere" is the "left blogosphere," containing blogs of the political left. The term "leftosphere" has been in print since at least March 2006. A similar…
Lefturd (left + turd)
"Lefturd” (left + turd) is an epithet used by some on the political right against the political left. “Lefturd” has been cited in print since July 2002. Similar terms include…
Leftwaffe (left + Luftwaffe)
"Leftwaffe" or "leftwaffe" (left + Luftwaffe) is an epithet used by some on the political right against the political lett. The Luftwaffe was the Nazi air force in World War II.…
Legacy Media
The term "legacy media" means the "old media" or the "print media" (newspapers and magazines), as opposed to the "new media" (websites and blogs). The term…
Legacy Robe (Gypsy Robe)
The "gypsy robe" is a Broadway musical tradition that has nothing to do with the famous musical Gypsy (1959). The robe (a negligee) originally began with the musical Gentlemen Prefer…
Lego Cookery
Felipe Fernández-Armesto, a British historian, wrote in Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food (2002): "Fusion food is Lego cookery. Only the revolution in availability makes it possible…
Lehman 2.0
The financial firm of Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September 2008 -- the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Any other large bankruptcy or great financial collapse (Greece, for example)…
Lehman Moment
Lehman Brothers was a financial firm that collapsed quickly in 2008; its September 2008 bankruptcy filing created a world financial panic. The term "Lehman moment" (or "Lehman…