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You are here: Home / Language / Who Coined the Phrase “A New York Minute”, Where Did it Come From, and What Does the Expression Mean?

Who Coined the Phrase “A New York Minute”, Where Did it Come From, and What Does the Expression Mean?

June 9, 2020 by Karen Hill

The push for urgency in our day-to-day existence is often expressed as a “New York minute” because that’s how long it takes an impatient New Yorker to let you know you’re a problem.

It was discovered in 1967 as a response to a survey for a Dictionary of American English.

One question asked was to fill in the blank after, “I’ll be ready in … ” to which a Jasper, Texas, policeman wrote “a New York minute.”

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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