Not Out, But Usually About

I just got back from a little "Girls Night Out" where it was agreed that we'd probably have way more fun in The City, meaning San Francisco. There was some small talk about how fun it is going to the gay bars in the Castro, with all the hot guys who aren't boring you with all the usual pick-up lines. There was also mention of the fabulous Castro Theatre, where I once saw a movie in which my friend played "The Bridge and Tunnel Guy". Tonight I learned the origin of the bridge-and-tunnel term.

Bridge and Tunnel is used to refer to people who must commute through a bridge or tunnel to get to the island of Manhattan. Since the surrounding boroughs of New York are generally less expensive to live in, B&T has become a derogatory and sometimes racially prejudice term. It is also used in San Francisco referring to people who don't live on the peninsula.

I always knew it as referring to gay men who acted totally straight and came over to the Castro to get a little action on the sly, but I didn't know it originated all the way across the country with a totally different meaning.
Well, you learn something new every day.