A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“Instead of ‘British Summer Time’ and ‘Greenwich Mean Time’ we should just call them ‘Oven Clock Correct Time’...” (3/28)
“Has anyone here ever drank a pint of tequila? I know it’s a long shot” (3/28)
“A pint of tequila? That’s a long shot” (3/28)
“The U.S. should add three more states. Because 53 is a prime number. Then they can truly be one nation, indivisible” (3/28)
Entry in progress—BP4 (3/28)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from April 17, 2011
Holy Shit my Bank’s Chinese (HSBC nickname)

HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a global bank with many branches in New York City. Marine Midland Bank was based in Buffalo, New York; HSBC acquired full ownership of Marine Midland in 1987 and changed the name to HBSC in 1998. HSBC has a large presence in Buffalo with One HSBC Center and the HSBC Arena (where NHL’s Buffalo Sabres play professional hockey).
 
The HSBC nickname “Holy Shit my Bank’s Chinese” has been cited since at least the early 2000s and has been used in Buffalo and in New York City, where the bank had long been named Marine Midland.
 
Similar HSBC nicknames include “Holy Shit Buffalo’s Cold” and “Holy Shit Bank’s Corrupt.” The HSBC nickname of “Hot Sauce Bleu/Blue Cheese” (cited in print since 1999) is a food tribute to the popular dish of Buffalo chicken wings.
     
   
Wikipedia: HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc (Chinese: 滙豐控股有限公司) is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. As of 2010 it was the world’s sixth-largest banking and financial services group and eighth-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine. It has around 7,500 offices in 87 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America and around 100 million customers. As of 30 June 2010 it had total assets of $2.418 trillion, of which roughly half were in Europe, a quarter in the Americas and a quarter in Asia.
 
HSBC Holdings plc was founded in London in 1991 by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to act as a new group holding company and to enable the acquisition of UK-based Midland Bank. The origins of the bank lie in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where branches were first opened in 1865. Today HSBC remains the largest bank in Hong Kong, and recent expansion in mainland China, where it is now the largest international bank, has returned it to that part of its roots.

HSBC is a universal bank and is organised within four business groups: Commercial Banking; Global Banking and Markets (investment banking); Personal Financial Services (retail banking); and Private Banking.
           
Yahoo! Answers
What dose HSBC stand for?
Other Answers:
Holy Sh*t! my Bank’s Chinese!
Hot sauce ‘n’ bleu cheese!
5 years ago
     
Brooklynian
Stores/eateries closing on 7th Ave south of 9th st?
(...)
COMMENTS
belzjm
Holy Shit my Bank’s Chinese!!!!
Posted 4 yrs ago  
     
Google Books
City on the Edge: Buffalo, New York
By Mark Goldman
Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books
2007
Pg. 342:
The arena, since the Hong-Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation’s acquisition of Marine Midland Bank, was by then called HSBC Arena (according to a joke then circulating in Buffalo, the acronym really meant “Holy Shit the Bank’s Chinese”).
 
A Dirty Martini
August 30, 2007
Giving Starbucks the finger
(...)
We are busily letting China, of all countries, hoover up half the country (HSBC = Holy Shit my Bank’s Chinese) and allowing other foreign corporate giants to step in and alter what we know and love beyond recognition. 
   
Brownstoner
Streetlevel: Chase Revealed on Myrtle
By Brownstoner at February 27, 2009 2:02 PM
(...)
COMMENTS
By 11217 on February 27, 2009 2:30 PM
Holy Shit my Bank’s Chinese!!!!

Brownstoner
HSBC Downsizing in The Burg
By EmilyNonko at August 6, 2010 9:00 AM
(...)
COMMENTS
By 11217 on August 6, 2010 11:03 AM
Holy Shit my Bank’s Chinese!!

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityBanking/Finance/Insurance • Sunday, April 17, 2011 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.