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Wait 'til Next Year - a Painful History of Sport's Perennial Losers' Sad Refrain
Wait ‘til Next Year – a Painful History of a Sport’s Perennial Losers' Sad RefrainJuly, by Grantland RiceHope Springs eternal in the baseball breastUntil July,When in six towns, hurled backward from...
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Lead Pipe III – the Final Chapter - the Malleable History and Etymology of...
Lead Pipe III – The Final Chapter: The Malleable History and Etymology of “Lead Pipe” CinchesLead Pipe (or tubing)IntroductionThe idiom, “lead pipe cinch,” denotes a sure thing. But deciphering the...
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Washington's Willowware, Men's Clubs and Dining Cars - the Delicious History...
Washington's Willowware, Men’s Clubs and Dining Cars – the Delicious History and Etymology of “Blue Plate Specials”In December 1965, Earl Bartell invented K-Mart’s signature “Blue Light Special” at a...
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Lead Pipe IV - A Lead Pipe Could Be a "Sure Thing" even before it was a "Cinch"
Lead Pipe IV - A Lead Pipe Could be a "Sure Thing" even before it was a "Cinch"A “Lead Pipe Cinch” is a sure thing. But pin-pointing its origin has been anything but. It has long been known that the...
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Nine Yards to the Dollar - the History and Etymology of "The Whole Nine Yards"
The best “Mixture” for a sick heart is nine yards of calico, fine broadcloth, four armsful of humanity, a parson’s certificate of matrimony, a pair of canary birds and a bundle of green-house...
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The Blue; the Gray; and the Runaway – a History and Etymology of “Skedaddle”
Another “Skedaddle.” – “Skedaddle” is a handy word. We think it was invented purposely to describe the military movements of the Missouri traitors; for it is the only word that can do justice to the...
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Skedaddle, Skidoodle, Skidoo - the Vanishing History and Etymology of...
Twenty-Three, Skidoo! (Peter Paul and Mary, Car Car, at 0:50)The early-twentieth century slang expression, “twenty-three,” meaning, “get lost” or “take a hike,” dates to at least 1899. It may sound...
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A Ball, a Pole, a Rope – a Twisted History of Tetherball
A Ball, a Pole, a Rope – a Twisted History of TetherballWright & Ditson's Lawn Tennis Guide for 1900. Tetherball was invented in England in about 1880; possibly by a certain “Mr. Lehmann, of Oxford...
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Paper Linen and Crib Notes - A Well-Planned History of "Off the Cuff"
Paper Linen and Crib Notes - A Well-Planned History of "Off the Cuff"The idiom, “off the cuff,” meaning “without preparation . . . as if from impromptu notes made on one’s shirt cuffs,”[i]dates to the...
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Banana Peel Update - Peels in Film, Song and Poetry
Banana Peel II – Update- An Even Older Banana Peel FilmIn an earlier post, I laid out a history of “banana peel” (and orange peel) humor, extending back to the early 1800s. Orange peel-slipping humor...
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Dudes, Dodos, and Fopdoodles - A History and Etymology of "Dude"!!!
Long years ago, in ages crude, Before there was a mode, oh!There lived a bird, they called a “Dude,” Resembling much the “Dodo.”The World (New York), January 14, 1883, page 9.[i]These words, the...
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Apples, Celery and Mayonnaise - the History of the Waldorf Salad
Apples, Celery and Mayonnaise - the History of the Waldorf Salad(What, No Walnuts?)The Waldorf Hotel, William Waldorf Astor’s “Palace,” “the most splendid hotel in the world,” with a “magnificence that...
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Poultry and Pork on Toast - the History of the "Club Sandwich"
The "Club" sandwich may have originated at the Union Club of the City of New York, the third-oldest private club in the United States. The Club Sandwich The Food Network describes a “Classic Club...
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Bad Ale, Ramshackle Buildings, and Odd Fellows - the Whole History and...
Long before William Hung’s idiosyncratic performance of Ricky Martin’s classic, “She Bangs,” mystified millions of music(?) fans, the murky origins of the idiom, “the Whole Shebang,” mystified...
View ArticleThe End of Reconstruction and Death of Southern Republicanism - a "Brass...
(See also, Brass Tacks, Counter Tacks, Furniture Tacks and Coffin Tacks - Nailing Down the Deathly Serious History and Etymology of "Getting Down to Brass Tacks")In an earlier post, I presented...
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One-Wheeled Velocipedes and Penny-Farthings - a Circular History of the Unicycle
The History of the UnicycleWho invented the Unicycle? And when?Good question.The History of the UnicycleIt is widely presumed that the unicycle was invented by someone who removed the rear wheel from...
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Grantland Rice, Josh Billings and Arthur Schopenhauer - the Win-or-Lose...
Grantland Rice[i], one of the giants of American sports journalism, popularized the now well-known idiom, “it’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how you play the game,” which is paraphrased from the...
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You Can’t Believe Everything You Read – the Surprisingly Early History of the...
You Can’t Believe Everything You Read – the Surprisingly Early History of the First "Scheduled" Night Game of Professional Baseball – September 1, 1888Tradition holds that the first night-game of major...
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Civil War Officers and Cowboys - the History and Etymology of "Come Hell or...
“Come hell or high water.” It sounds like something ancient and Biblical – Old Testament Biblical. Noah, plagues, eternal damnation.The paper trail, however, paints a different picture. The idiom,...
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I. Catchem and U. Chetem - the Fraudulent (Yet True) History of Dewey,...
In their signature, on-air sign-off, Click and Clack (the Tappert Brothers; hosts of National Public Radio’s long-running, popular Car Talk automotive repair advice radio show) claim that “Car Talk is...
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