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.

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Entry from October 12, 2019
Alibi Ike

Entry in progress—B.P.
     
Wiktionary: Alibi Ike
Etymology
From the principal character in “Alibi Ike” (1915), a short story by Ring Lardner Sr., and a subsequent film (1935) of the same name.
Noun
Alibi Ike
(plural Alibi Ikes)
1. (informal) One who is always ready to provide excuses for shortcomings, errors, or other difficulties.
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
Alibi Ike, n.
Etymology: <

Alibi Ike, the nickname of a fictional baseball player who constantly invents excuses for everything. Compare alibi n.
Alibi Ike is the eponymous character of a story published in 1915 by R. Lardner (1885–1933).
U.S.
A person who continually makes excuses for his or her actions.
1915   Chicago Daily Tribune 12 June ii. 17/8 (headline)  ‘Alibi Ike’ Frank jailed on old charge, but defense gets him out.
1915   Boston Globe (Muskogee, Oklahoma) 2 Oct.  ‘I deserved to lose.’.. Thus remarked Francis Ouimet… There is nothing of an ‘Alibi Ike’ about Francis.
 
Newspapers.com
21 April 1913, St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, “Wray’s Column,” pg. 14, col. 7:
Alibi Ike Explains.
(...)
“What’s the matter this time—Koney’s weak hitting?”
 
“Not at all. Mowrey’s good stick work offsets that,” replied Alibi Ike, the boy adjuster.
 
Newspapers.com
4 April 1933, Courier-Post (Camden, NJ), “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 10, col. 3:
BASEBALL SLANG
(...)
Alibi Ike—Player who makes excuses for poor fielding or batting.
 

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityWorkers/People • Saturday, October 12, 2019 • Permalink


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