List of Topics

• Academy Awards - "Oscar"
• African Dodgers
• African Golf (Craps)
• Alcatraz (Escape from)
• Alfred E. Neuman - the Original Image 
• Alice Blue
• All the News That's Fit to Print 
• Allagaroo (the origin of the cheer) 
• Alligator Bait
• Alligator Bait ("Mammy's Little Alligator Bait," popular song)
  
• Amputee Baseball
  
• Apple Pie - as American as Apple Pie
• Aunt Sally - Throwing Game
• Automobile Laundry (Car Wash) 
  
• Armchair Quarterback 
• Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
• Backseat Driver
• Banana Peels (Slipping On) and Update
• Barbara Bush (Everyone's Grandmother)
• Basketball (Women's)
• Bazooka
• Bean-Bag Toss
• Ben Henderson (first known use of word, "jazz")
• Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
• Big Dance (Basketball tournament) 
• Bill-the-Goat (Navy Mascot) 
• Billiken
• Billiken (SLU Mascot) 
• Blue Bottle Hand Grenade Fire Extinguishers
  
• Blue Light Special
• Blue Plate Special
• Boxing Elephants 
• Boxing Kangaroos (and Update)
• Bozo (and Update)
• Brass Tacks
• Brass Tacks (Get Down to) (and Supplement; and 2d Supplement) 
• Braves (Boston, Milwaukee, Atlanta)
• Bring Your Own Beverage
• Brooklyn Bridge (selling the) 
• BYOB, BYOL, BYOS 
• Cabs
• Captain America
• Captain Marvel  
• Car Wash (History of the)
  
• Charlie Horse
• Cheesecake
• Chester A. Arthur - the "Dude President"  
• Chicago (That Toddling Town) (and earlier "Toddletown")
• Chicago Cowboys, Rough Riders, Rancheros (Cubs)
  
• Chicago Cubs' Curse
• Chicago Orphans (Cubs)
• "Chinese" Takeout Containers 
  
• Chief Wahoo  
• Chowder Parties
• Cinderella Team (Basketball)
• Cleveland Indians 
• Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo
• Cleveland Spiders
• Cleveland Spiders (additional) 
• Close to the Vest (Buttons) (Close to the Chest)
• Club Sandwich
• Cockles and Mussels, Alive, Alive-O!  
• Cockshy - Throwing Game
  
• Coffin Tacks
• Come Hell or High Water  
• Cornhole
• Cowbellogians 
• Craps
• Cuff Notes  
• Curse of the Billy Goat (Cubs)
• Cut from Whole Cloth
• Cut the Mustard (and Update) 
• Death Tax (Estate Tax)
  
• Democratic Donkey
• Dewey, Cheathem and Howe  
• Dixie Cups
  
• Dog-Catcher (couldn't get elected)
• Dog-Face (Infantryman)  
• Dogs on the Bus/Train
  
• Donkey Parties  
• Dublin's Fair City
• Dude 
• The "Dude President" - Chester A. Arthur
• Dude Ranch
• Dudes, Kings of the Dudes
  
• Dukes (put up your)  
• Dunk Tanks
• Easter Egg Roll - White House 
• Eastern Park, Brooklyn (rail service - no trolleys)
• Elite Eight (Basketball)
• Emancipation Day (Juneteenth and others)
• "Emmy " - Television Award
• Escape from Alcatraz
• Estate Tax (Death Tax)
  
• Evander Berry Wall (King of the Dudes) 
• Everything is Bigger in Texas
• Faba Baga
• Fall off the Wagon
• First Night Game of Baseball
• First Pitches (Ceremonial)
• Floats (Parade)  
• Florida Gators
  
• Flyover Country
• Football (Origin of "American")
• Fourth of July ("Safe and Sane")
• Frederick Marryat  
• Fremiet (Sculptor)
  
• Fur-Bearing Fish
• Gator Bait - UF Cheer 
• Gators - UF Nickname
  
• Gazabo
• Gazip
• Gazump 
• Get My Goat (Earliest use update)
• Get Down to Brass Tacks (and Supplement; and 2d Supplement)
• Giants (New York/San Francisco)
• Giants (Baseball - Origin of Team Name)
• Gift of a White Elephant 
• Go on the Wagon
• Gordon Highlanders
  
• Grantland Rice (Win or Lose) (Wait'll Next Year) 
• Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall (Ten)
  
• Hail Mary Pass
• Handbells
• Happy Hour (and Update)  
• Harvey Houses
• Hell or High Water ("Come . . ." / or "In Spite of . . .")  
• Highlanders (Gordon and New York)
  
• Hip-Hip Hurrah! (and Update - analysis of false etymology) 
• Hobo
• Hokey-Pokey (Hokey-Cokey) 
• Holy Cow!
• Hoochie Coochie (and Hoochie Coochie II) 
• Hot Dogs
• How do You Like Them Apples? 
• I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!
  
• I should worry? 
• Ice Cream Scoops
  
• If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake. 
• In a New York Minute
• Indians (Cleveland)
• Inmates Running the Asylum 
• It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. 
• J. Waldere Kirk (King of the Dudes)
  
• Jackalopes
• Jam - Jam Session
• Jasbo
• Jaybird (Naked as a)
• Jaywalking (and Jay Driving) 
• Jazz 
• Jell-O
• Jigaboo (Zigaboo) 
• Jim Thorpe (did he catch his own punt?)
• Jingle Bells
• Joe Biden quote - "you're a lying dog-faced pony soldier" 
• Joe Gans (World Lightweight Boxing Champion)
• John L. Sullivan (World Heavyweight Boxing Champion) - in the Circus
  
• Jonah and the Whale
• Joy Riding / Joy Riders 
• Jump on the Bandwagon (Get on the Bandwagon)
• Juneteenth
• Just Like Riding a Bike
• Kazoo
• King Kong
  
• Knickerbocker Club (Dudes) 
• Lead-Pipe Cinch (Horse racing and suicide) (Alternate Origin Story) (Update)
• Licorice Ball - Baseball Pitch
  
• Like Taking Candy from a Baby
  
• Lost His Goat
• Lying Dog-Faced Pony Soldier (Joe Biden quote)
• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 
• March Madness (Basketball) 
• Mardi Gras
• Margarete Steiff - Originator of Stuffed, Plush Bears
• Mark Twain (Murder Suspect) 
• Martian
• Mike "King" Kelly
• Missouri - the Show Me State (and Update)
• Molly Malone
• Monday Morning Quarterback
• Monday Morning Quarterback (background)
  
• Monkey's Uncle
• Monkey Wrench 
• Monkey Wrench (throwing one into the works)
• More Fun than a Barrel of Monkeys 
• More Fun than a Box of Monkeys  
• More Than You Can Shake a Stick At
• Morris Michtom - Reputed Inventor of the Teddy Bear
• Moving the Goalposts 
• Mulligan (Golf)
• Mulligan Stew   
• N. B. A. Logo
• Naked as a Jaybird
• New York Giants (Origin of Nickname)
• New York Giants (Team History)
• New York Highlanders
  
• New York Minute
• New York Times' Motto (A. t. N. T. F. t. P.)
• New York Yankees
• NIBS (Licorice) - Origin of Name (not racist) 
• N[-word] Baby - Throwing Game
  
• Night Baseball and George Van Derbeck 
• Night Game - First Scheduled in Professional Baseball
• Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on theWall
• Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer (Predecessor Song) 
  
• North Pole as Santa's Home 
• Off the Cuff  
• Oliver Teall (King of the Dudes)
  
• Onativia, T. Luis ("Cito") - King of the Dudes
  
• "Oscar " - Academy Award
• "Oyster Pails"
  
• Oyster Saloons
• Paper Cups 
• Parade Floats
• Pie in the Face Gag (and Update)
• Pin the Tail on the Donkey
• Pink Elephant
• Pittsburgh Pirates (of Penzance)
• Play-by-Play (Sports Announcing)
• Play Your Cards Close to the Vest
• Playground slides
• Plunger (household, rubber, toilet/drain plunger) 
• Pogo Sticks
• Polar Trout
• Polo Grounds Stadium Ownership
• Polo Grounds - Baseball Irony 
  
• Pony Soldier (Cavalryman)
• Prendre la Chevre
• Priming the Pump (economics)
• Put up Your Dukes  
• Raising Cain
• Red Cap Porters
  
• Red Light District
• Redskins (Washington)  
• Republican Elephant - Earliest Use
• Republican Elephant - History of Image 
  
• Riding the Goat
• Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots
• Root (to cheer) - origin
• Rose Bowl Football Game History 
• Rose Bowl Parade - Background
  
• Sabotage
• "Safe and Sane" Fourth of July 
• Santa Claus' Home at the North Pole
• Seventh Inning Stretch
• Shake a Stick At 
• See Snakes / See Snakes in Your Boots
• Shebang 
• Shebeen
• Sidney Perrin (Composer) 
• Sis Boom Bah! 
• Skedaddle
• Skidoo  
• Sliced Bread
• Slide, Kelly, Slide!
• Slides (Playground) 
• "Sliding" Billy Watson
• Snake in my Boot ("I have a . . .")
• Snoopy 
• Soccer - the Sport of the Future (?)
• Space Force
• Speakeasy (and Update)
• Squirting Flower
  
• St. Louis Cardinals 
• St. Louis Perfectos
• Stapler 
• Star-Spangled Banner Before Games
• Star-Spangled Banner Etiquette
• Strip Poker
• Strip Poker (Update)
• Sullivan, John L. (World Heavyweight Boxing Champion) - in the Circus 
• Sweet Sixteen (Basketball)
• Swiss Bell Ringers
• Takeout Containers ("Chinese") 
• Taking a "Mulligan"  
• Taking Candy from a Baby (Like)
  
• Taxi / Taxicab
• Taxi (Airplanes)
• Taxiing (on the Runway)
• Taximeter
• Tebeau's Indians 
• Teddy (Lingerie)
• Teddy (Lingerie) - designed by Theodore Bear
• Teddy Bears
• Teddy Bears Revisited
• Teddy Roosevelt
• Ten Little Indians 
• Tetherball
• Three Blue Bottles - (99 Bottles of Beer Predecessor)
  
• Third Rail (of American Politics)
• Throw a Monkey Wrench in the Works  
• Tied to Railroad Track - Trope
  
• Tinkers, to Evers, to Chance
• Toddle Town (Toddletown)
• Toddling Town (Chicago)
• Tournament of Roses History - Pasadena 
• Transatlantic Cable 
• Trolley Dodgers (Brooklyn Dodgers and Los Angeles Dodgers) 
• Trolley-Wire Dodgers (Brooklyn Dodgers and Los Angeles Dodgers) 
• Tuxedo
  
• Twenty-Three, Skidoo!
•  Twenty-Three (from A Tale of Two Cities)
• Uncle (Pawnbroker)
• Unicycles (History of)  
• University of Florida Gators
  
• U.S.S. Arkansas (BB 33) 
• Wait 'til Next Year!
• Waldorf Salad  
• Wash Rack (Car Wash)
  
• Washington Redskins
• Wears the Pants / Trousers
• What, Me Worry?
• White Elephant  (and Update)
• White Elephant Gift Exchange (and Update) 
• White Elephant "War" of 1884
• White House Easter Egg Roll
• Whole Cloth (cut from)
• Whole Nine Yards (Whole Nine Yards - Update)
• Whole Shebang 
• Willowware (Willow Pattern Plates) 
• Wimpuss (or Wampus or Wimpus)
• Win or Lose, It's How You Play the Game
• Windjammer 
• Winning an Elephant in the Raffle
• Wirra-Wirra (Wurra-Wurra)
• Wonder Bread 
• Yankee Swap
• Yankees - New York
  
• Yellow Cabs
• Zigaboo (Jigaboo)
  
• Zilch