They're as self-centered as we are!

[Mark Mandel]

I wrote to Robin Hamilton et al.

===
Loaded as my memory is with old rubbish, including lots and lots of TV
jingles, the first thing I thought of was

Have a Knick,
You'll feel refreshed,
Have a Knickerbocker Beer!
====

I felt that was too far off topic, so I wrote off-list, and Robin answered
likewise (but now I think we're back into our business here):

===
Isn't there also an American football team, or teams, the Boston Knicks (or
nicks?), or something like that?  Might be linked to the beer.  Hey, has
this any relation to a Knickerbocker glory, kind of icecream?
===

No, the New York Knicks (
http://www.nba.com/knicks/history/why_knickerbockers.html). It's specific to
NYC, where I grew up, so I'm more or less familiar with the connection. It
goes back to Washington Irving's *_History of New-York from the Beginning of
the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker*_
(1809).

Not surprisingly, Barry Popik has a pretty thorough page on it (
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/father_knickerbocker/),
though he doesn't mention the viral marketing campaign that made Irving's
book a hit (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving#First_major_writings).

Mark Mandel

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