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"All Dressed Up and No Place to Go" - a Tricked-Out History of the Expression
The expression, “all dressed up with no place to go,” has been part of American pop-culture and language since at least 1910, although it may have been in use earlier. The earliest example I have found...
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Ji-Ji-Boo 2 - the Etymology of Jigaboo (an Addendum)
“Ji-Ji Boo (the Sensational Dance Tune),” 1922.i The word “Jigaboo,” in reference to a black person, traces its origins to the song, “Rings on My Fingers, or Mumbo Jumbo Jijjiboo J. O’Shea,” first...
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"Two Gallon" Top Hats and "Ten Gallon" Cowboy Hats - a Voluminous History of...
Ride ‘im Cowboy!Oh, the ten-gallon hat is a wonderful thing,Both to wear on the head and to chuck in the ringAnd at coming conventions let delegates sing,Ride ‘im cowboy! Let bold Lochivar gallop out...
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A Tale of One City, Two Teams and Two Leagues - Did the Original Mets Become...
From 1880 through 1882, an independent, professional team called the New York Metropolitans (or “Mets”), played in New York City. Their founder and manager, James Mutrie, is credited with bringing...
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Banana Split Personalities - Who Invented the Banana Split?
In Quentin Tarantino’s classic film, Pulp Fiction, John Travolta, as hitman Vince Vega, explains the “funniest thing about Europe” to Samuel L. Jackson, as hitman Jules Winnfield. At McDonalds In...
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Arrested Baseball Developements- the Battle for Sunday Baseball in New York City
On Sunday, April 24, 1904, the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers) defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 8-6 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The win left the Superbas with a record of 5-4; the loss left the...
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Wash Racks and Automobile Laundries - a Cleaned and Polished History of the...
Car wash culture arguably reached its apotheosis with the 1976 release of the classic film, Car Wash, and its soundtrack album featuring Rose Royce’s funk classic, Car Wash. The film portrayed a day in...
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Rewriting Pulp Fiction - an Unabridged History of Paper Cups
“To the victor go the spoils.” “History is written by the victors.” To the extent these maxims are true in global political history, they may also hold true along the trivial margin of pop-culture...
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Squirting Flowers - a Surprising History
If slipping on a banana peels is the most hilarious thing ever, the second most hilarious thing ever may be the squirting flower boutonniere. Banana peel humor is old - dating to at least the 1850s,...
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Chinese Food, Staplers and Oysters - Unboxing the Mani-fold History of the...
In February 2023, an international incident involving a surveillance balloon from China prompted some anonymous twitter user to post this meme of a Chinese take-out box suspended by a balloon. The...
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Groundhog Day and Ice Cream Scoops - a History of Ice Cream Scoops from A-Z...
On Groundhog Day 1897, Alfred Lewis Cralle received a patent for a mechanical ice cream scoop. Fittingly, he was from western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), not far from Punxatawney, the home of...
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Snoop Dogg, Snoopy and the surprisingly long history of "Snoopy" dogs (and cats)
Snoopy - 1938 Calvin Broadus, Jr. borrowed his rap moniker, Snoop Dogg, from the name of the dog in Charles Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy. His mother gave him the nickname as a young boy...
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One Little, Two Little, Three Little Songs - Counting Down the History of...
Sep. Winner 1868.In its simplest, most familiar form, the song, “Ten Little Indians,” appears to be an innocent children’s counting song. One little, two little, three little Indians,Four little, five...
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Gladstone and Taxes: "Death Tax" or "Estate Tax" - which one is the euphemism?
According to Merriam-Webster online, an “estate tax” is “a tax . . . on a property owner’s right to transfer the property to others after his or her death.” And a “death tax” is “a tax arising on the...
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Birds, Bottles and Flies - the Early History of "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer...
In a previous post, I surveyed the history of the American song, “Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” and the British song, “Ten Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall.” Both songs were apparently...
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Blue Bottles, Green Bottles and Flies - a History of Ninety-Nine Bottles of...
The American song, “Ninety nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” dates to at least 1945. The British, children’s counting song, “Ten Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall,” dates to at least 1933. The...
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Cable Surfing and Kites - Fun and Games on the Streets of San Francisco -...
Kids these days just don’t know how to have fun. What with the cell-phones, the video games and the social mediums, no one can find time to go outside and play anymore (or at least that’s one...
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du Chaillu, Fremiet and Gemora - Going Ape over early influences on King Kong
King Kong became an instant classic upon release of the original film version in 1933. Critics praised the display of technical advances that allowed for novel special effects which, for the first...
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Bender Like Billiken - the Idolatrous Origin of SLU's Nickname
The mascot for the St. Louis University sports teams is a Billiken. Although obscure now, the Billiken was a worldwide phenomenon and household word a century ago when the name became attached to the...
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Spitballs and Licorice - a History of the "Licorice Ball"
There was once a “freak” pitch called the “licorice ball.” It was banned from baseball (along with several other “freak” deliveries) even before the spitball.The earliest reference to a “licorice...
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