Word of the Day

: October 4, 2011

Annie Oakley

noun an-ee-OH-klee

What It Means

: a free ticket

Annie Oakley in Context

The sales representative gave her client a pair of Annie Oakleys to the golf tournament.

"I asked my office neighbor Ned Dougherty if he and his fiancée Ginny wanted to take the other two Annie Oaklies and join us that evening, which is how four of us came to be at New York City's Ethel Barrymore Theater." -- From a blog post by Dean Speir on his On the Beach Blog, July 9, 2009

Did You Know?

Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses (1860-1926) starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, where she astonished the crowds with feats of marksmanship such as shooting the spots out of playing cards. It wasn't long until her audience noticed that the shot-out card looked like a ticket that had been punched by a train conductor. By 1910, the name "Annie Oakley" was not only synonymous with sharp-shooting but with the ticket-playing card connection, and complimentary tickets have been "Annie Oakleys" ever since.