alive day n. the anniversary of a close escape from death, especially one involving permanent injury. Editorial Note: Jim Mayer and former senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.) have been celebrating their “alive days” for decades, since receiving injuries during the Vietnam War. Cleland credits Mayer for the celebration idea. In turn, according to one source, Mayer “credits the Alive Day idea to the beneficent effects of morphine and to an attempt to impress a pretty nurse.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Tommy in Lexington, Kentucky, reports that when he was serving in the U.S. military in Vietnam he heard the expression Mox nix, meaning “I don’t care” or “It doesn’t matter.” It’s a version of a German es Macht nichts, or “It’s nothing.” This is...
Debbie from Crawfordsville, Florida, says that when she and her husband reach an impasse while working on something, they’ll say Let’s grok about it, which they use to mean “Let’s think about it.” Grok was coined by science fiction writer Robert...