The Big Apple
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About Archives Categories Index Search

October 7, 2013
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Starbuckese or Starbucksese (language of Starbucks)

"Starbuckese" (or the less-frequently used "Starbucksese") is the language used by the coffeehouse chain Starbucks. "Starbuck-ese" has been cited in print since at…

March 30, 2012
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Starbugs (Starbucks nickname)

Starbucks Coffee Company is a coffeehouse chain that began in Seattle, Washington in 1971. There are many Starbucks outlets in New York City, especially in Manhattan. The Starbucks nickname of…

April 28, 2011
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Starfucks (Starbucks nickname)

Starbucks Coffee Company is a coffeehouse chain that began in Seattle, Washington in 1971. There are many Starbucks outlets in New York City, especially in Manhattan. The Starbucks nickname of…

February 13, 2005
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Steak Row (East 45th Street)

"Steak Row" used to be East 45th Street, from Lexington to First Avenue. The defunct Pen and Pencil Restaurant helped to give it that name. However, it is not correct to say that…

August 17, 2009
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Steakery (steak + eatery)

A "steakery" is an "eatery" that serves "steak." The term "steakery" dates to at least 1932. The franchise Charley's Grilled Subs was originally called…

September 7, 2013
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Steakhouse Index

A "steakhouse index" gauges the health of an economy by the health of its steakhouses. If an economy is doing well, businesses entertain clients at steakhouses; if an economy is doing…

April 8, 2011
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Stinkberry (Pinkberry nickname)

Pinkberry frozen yogurt began in California in 2005, but quickly opened over a dozen shops in New York City. Fans of the frozen yogurt product claim that it's addictive and have called it…

September 25, 2020
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Streatery (street + eatery)

A "streatery" or "streetery" (street + eatery) is a term similar to "parklet." A street parking space is taken over for dining, or the entire street could be closed to…

September 25, 2020
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Streetery (street + eatery)

A "streatery" or "streetery" (street + eatery) is a term similar to "parklet." A street parking space is taken over for dining, or the entire street could be closed to…

August 11, 2009
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Supper Club

The "supper club" started in London and became popular in the second half of the 19th century. A "supper club" is a "night club," with food, music and dancing. An 1898…

March 10, 2019
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Sweet Water Chemist (soda jerk)

"Sweet water chemist" (or "sweet-water chemist") is a fancy name for a "soda jerk(er)." The name became popular when many soda fountains were located in drugstores.…

May 5, 2026
Food/DrinkRestaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Synagogue Twins (fried ham and eggs)

Jewish law does not permit eating pork. This fact found its way into restaurant slang, where “synagogue twins” became the slang for an order of fried ham and eggs. "'Synagogue…

March 29, 2011
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Taco Hell (Taco Bell nickname)

Taco Bell fast food restaurants have been nicknamed "Taco Hell" since at least the 1980s. The nickname comes from the inexpensive ingredients used to make the food (the opposite of food…

March 30, 2011
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

Taco Smell (Taco Bell nickname)

Taco Bell fast food restaurants have been nicknamed "Taco Smell" since at least 1990. The nickname, perhaps, comes from the inexpensive ingredients used to make the food, providing the…

May 27, 2005
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

TGI Friday’s (1965); “Thank God It’s Friday” or “TGIF” (1934)

T.G.I. Friday's restaurant started in 1965 in New York City and, with Maxwell's Plum, was one of the nation's first "singles bars." ("Singles bar" has been cited…

December 14, 2025
The Big Apple1930s: Jazzing the Big AppleRestaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

The Big Apple (Arcadia, MI restaurant, 1937-2020)

The Big Apple restaurant on 17080 Northwood Highway in Arcadia, Michigan,, was opened in 1937. The name was surely taken from the “Big Apple” dance, a national craze in 1937. The Big Apple…

August 2, 2025
The Big Apple1980s-present: Big Apple work by Gerald Cohen, Barry PopikRestaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

The Big Apple (restaurant in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2016-present)

The Big Apple restaurant opened in 2016 at Reguliersdwarsstraat 17-19, Amsterdam, Netherlands. The restaurant's website states, "We want our guests to experience life in New York City,…

March 15, 2014
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

The House that Herring Built (Russ & Daughters nickname)

Russ & Daughters is an appetizing store located at 179 East Houston Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, that opened in 1914. The Russ & Daughters nickname of "The House that…

March 14, 2014
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

The Louvre of Lox (Russ & Daughters nickname)

Russ & Daughters is an appetizing store located at 179 East Houston Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, that opened in 1914. The Sunday Times of London on December 22, 2002, dubbed…

October 3, 2021
Restaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores

The worst part of spanking a disobedient child in the supermarket is…”

"The worst thing about spanking a disobedient child in the supermarket is having absolutely no idea who’s child it is" was posted on Twitter by Marty Fields on May 5, 2015. "The…

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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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