Big Belly (trash compactor)
"Big Belly" has been introduced to New York City. It's a new, solar-powered trash can that could be on a corner near you. "Big Belly" is a trade name by Seahorse Power…
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Alamo (black cube at Astor Place)
"Alamo" is the name of the big black cube at Astor Place, opposite Cooper Union, in the middle of a traffic island. During a brief repair and cleaning in 2005, and everyone said,…
“Big Mac” (Municipal Assistance Corporation)
"Big Mac" was the nickname of the Municipal Assistance Corporation, created in 1975, during the city's fiscal crisis, to issue bonds. The "Big Mac" name was a pun on…
NYCE (New York Cash Exchange)
"NYCE" is the New York Cash Exchange. It's probably on your ATM card. It started in 1985, when several large New York banks allowed transactions by any member bank customer at any…
“Manny Hanny” (Manufacturers Hanover Trust)
"Manny Hanny" was the popular nickname of Manufacturers Hanover Trust, an old New York City bank. It merged with Chemical Bank, and then Chemical Bank merged with Chase (the name used…
Microneighborhood
New York magazine, 3 January 2005, had an article titled "The Rise of the Microneighborhood." The new "neighborhood" is a "microneighborhood" that can be defined as a…
Angry Lobster; Drunken Donuts
"Angry Lobster" and "Drunken Donuts" have been popping up on the menus of many high-end restaurants in New York City. I'll expand this entry, but if you know the origins of…
Potsy
"Potsy" is the New York City term for the game of "hopscotch" (or a variant of this game). "Pot" has been cited since at least 1884 and "potsie" since at…
Manhattan Distance
"Manhattan distance" is a mathematical term based on the grid system for Manhattan's street. (Oxford English Dictionary)Manhattanattrib. Math. Designating geometries, graphics, etc.,…
New York dressed (poultry)
"New York dressed" is a term for poultry that seems to have appeared about 1902. It is poultry that is "rough plucked," with the feathers removed and the blood drawn, but with…
Pay-to-Pray (Sunday parking meter regulations)
Parking meter days-in-effect were extended to Sunday. In 2005, critics labeled the policy "pay-to-pray." "Pay-to-pray" had been used in state politics in 2004 in connection with…
Lemonade (or, the New York Game)
"Here we come!""Where are you from?""New York.""What's your trade?""Lemonade." These are the opening lines to a game of charades that has…
“Salsa from New York City?” (Pace picante sauce commercials)
In the 1980s, Pace picante sauce- ran a series of commercials touting its native southwest appeal. Another salsa was from - horrors! -- New York City! The popular advertising campaign was revived…
New York Brand Texas Toast (from Ohio)
"Texas Toast" comes from Texas, right? Or New York? Or Ohio? "Texas Toast" is that big chunk of bread, dipped in butter and sprinkled with garlic, that's usually eaten with…
Broadway Diner (on Lexington Avenue)
Quick, where is the Broadway Diner located? Lexington Avenue, of course. It began in the 1980s and used to be located at Broadway and West 55th Street - just a block away from "Big Apple…
Forest City
"Forest City" was an early Cleveland nickname. It is seldom used today (if at all). 5 March 1851, Ohio Repository (Canton, Ohio), pg. 2?, col. 2:The Queen City and the Forest City -…
Best Location in the Nation
From "Cleveland Caught in Long Decline" in the New York Times, 13 November 1978, pg. 1, cols.2-3: The best location in the nation" was the way the Cleveland Electric Illuminating…
Mistake on the Lake
"Best Location in the Nation" was soon ridiculed with "Mistake by/on the Lake." This nickname was popular in CB slang in the 1970s, during Cleveland's fiscal crisis. These…
Big Plum (“New York may be the Big Apple, but Cleveland’s a Plum”)
"New York may be the Big Apple, but Cleveland's a Plum" (occasionally, "The Big Plum") was meant to answer Cleveland's fiscal crisis in the 1970s, just as "the…
Big Orange (California and Orange County-NY nickname)
In the 1970s, just as "the Big Apple" became popular for New York, "the Big Orange" was sometimes used for Los Angeles or the state of California. "Big Orange" was…