Jun 5, 2011 · The exact etymology of this phrase is uncertain, but it appears to be derived from railroad terminology, in which a red ball is a fast freight train which has priority over other trains on the track. Given the importance of Baltimore in railroad history, vis a vis the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, this derivation seems quite plausible.

Apr 9, 2015 · Google Books and Library of Congress matches for 'hookey' and related terms. The earliest Google Books match for "on his own hook" is from a letter from Gerrit Smith to Edward Delavan (September 11, 1833), reprinted in "The Intemperate, and the Reformed" (1834):

CINCINNATI [Ohio], Jan. 18.—Edward Pettis, 17 years old, consumer of "Dead-Eye Dick" novels and would-be "bad man," rushed into the office of Stem, Heidman & Mehlhope, attorneys, in the traction building yesterday, flourishing a big six-shooter. Bringing it to the level of Attorney John Rohrer's eyes, the boy ordered him to write a check for $50.

Jul 29, 2013 · How Ben Franklin avoided credit for shooting that particular elephant in his pajamas I'll never know. Oh, wait—he didn't. Another once-familiar expression that trades on the dubiousness of the ingredients that may go into sausage appears in F.E. Kleinschmidt, "A Day of Blood," in The Pacific Monthly (June 1910):

The earliest use in print I found of the exact phrase "flip the bird" or "flipped the bird" or "flipping the bird" is from a 1967 Broadside (Volume 6, Issues 17-26).

Oct 13, 2015 · U.S. style guides. From [Merriam-]Webster's Standard American Style Manual (19885):. Words designating global, national, regional, or local political divisions are capitalized when they are essential elements of specific names.

The expression also appears in Todd Grossman, Shooting Action Sports: The Ultimate Guide to Extreme Filmmaking (2008): Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of None. We've all heard that expression, but what we rarely hear is the end of it. The original complete epithet reads: "Jack-of-all-trades, master of none, though oftentimes better than master of ...

Jan 5, 2016 · Lighter, in particular, offers extensive coverage of dope as a noun, identifying instances of slang usage that go back almost 200 years and extend across two dozen distinct meanings: "gravy" (first as doup, 1807), "a stupid person" (1851), "an unidentified unwholesome or poisonous liquid" (1872), "grease" (1876), "medicine or medication of any ...

Nov 15, 2012 · However, a slightly earlier instance occurs in "Letter from Observatory Hill, Cincinnati," dated 'Xenia [Ohio], July 13, 1863,' in the Xenia [Ohio] Sentinel (August 25, 1863): Gentlemen, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen!" We come to bury Vallandigham—"not to praise him. The evil that men do, lives after them;—the good is oft interred with their ...

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