In a New York minute

[Andreana]

Hello everybody. I'm listening to an audio book and have just heard this phrase: in a New York minute. From the context I figure it must mean something like very fast. Now, what is the origin of this idiom? Maybe a minute in New York passes by faster than in other cities because New York is so busy? Has anyone of you ever been to New York? Does the time really go by faster there?
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A smile will open doors

[Mister Micawber]

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Here is the most highly approved definition from the Urban Dictionary (which has 31 reader-generated definitions for this phrase):

"A New York minute is an instant. Or as Johnny Carson once said, it's the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn.

It appears to have originated in Texas around 1967. It is a reference to the frenzied and hectic pace of New Yorkers' lives. A New Yorker does in an instant what a Texan would take a minute to do.

I'll have that ready for you in a New York Minute".
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Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber

[Conchita]

Interesting expression!

[raettopia]

New York is very busy, people walking everywhere doing all sorts of things all the time. At 7am, the streets are packed. So the implication is yes, that it goes faster. It can feel like it sometimes, in my opinion, everything zooming by.

[Thumperfive]

actually, there's a famous song - Don Henley wrote "In a New York Minute" quite a few years ago - it describes a number of things happening so quickly and how it all just rushes over the average person.

[Yankee]

[Nicole]

[Yankee]

Hi Nicole

Here are a few late night answers:

- Personally, I would prefer to say "an hour and a half". And "90 minutes" also wouldn't be unusual. But it wouldn't be wrong to say "one and a half hours" (Please note: without the 's' on hours, the phrase is wrong!)

- The word 'colleaugue' is not unknown in the U.S., but I agree with your American friend: 'co-worker' sounds much more "American" (and therefore more "normal" ) to me. I hardly ever used the word 'colleague' before I began teaching English. And the only reason I use it fairly regularly nowadays is because I've seen it in so many British course books ... and because so many of my students write "college" instead of "colleague".

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Jamie (K)]

In addition to this, there's the expression country mile. It's much more than a mile. I found that when people in the country give you directions, and they say, "Turn right and it's a mile down the road," you can expect that "mile" to be three or four miles.