The Urban Dictionary explains that a “…New York minute is an instant…Johnny Carson once said, ‘It’s the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn’.” It apparently originated in Texas sometime around 1967 and refers to “…the frenzied and hectic pace of New Yorker’s lives. A New Yorker does in an instant what a Texan would take a minute to do.”

This expression refers to a benefit from an unexpected event. It was, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, a literal reference “…to wood or fruit blown down by the wind, and thus free to all.” It originated as early as the 1540s.

This expression was a favorite of Dizzy Dean, and during my teenage years I was a regular viewer of the baseball “Game of the Week” with Mr. Dean as the color announcer. I wasn’t much of a baseball player but became a fan of the game because of his colorful descriptions. He used this expression to describe that there were runners on base and ready to score if the batter could get a hit or make a “productive out.” It was originally used by Arch McDonald, a broadcaster for the Washington Senators from 1934 to 1956. It did not refer to a hunter seeing ducks sitting on a pond and thinking of them as easy targets.

Knowyourphrase.com explains the origin of this phrase is likely baseball and that the first published examples of its use were found in the 1880’s. I seldom disagree with sources, but the first explanation is that the batter makes a quick decision to run to first base after hitting the baseball. I have the opinion that it refers to a fielder moving immediately after the bat hits the ball to a place to make a catch. Regardless, the expression is used to do something immediately, in a hurry, or without delay.  The example sentence involves warning a person considering buying a home who is told “right off the bat” the house is infested with termites!

I’m going to break with my tradition of attempting to summarize the origin of expressions, because the explanation at mentafloss is far too interesting to summarize! I’ll list some history I found interesting, but encourage you to read the full description. No one knows where marbles originated, but “…they’ve been found in the ashes of Pompeii and the tombs of ancient Egyptians, and they were played by Native American tribes…”  The link provides numerous names for the various kinds of marbles, and I wonder whether the sack of marbles from my childhood might contain some of the incredibly valuable types. Smaller marbles called “mibs” or “ducks” “…can run from anywhere from $10 dollars to a few hundred dollars.”  “Shooters” start at $50 and go up from there to more than $10,000 for a “peacock Lutx onionskin (whatever that is?) or an “…amber glass Swirl for $10,800.” I suppose I should have the sack of marbles evaluated more closely, although I only thought of them as fun parts of a child’s game!