backpacker
n.— «There are a lot of places that we still didn’t get to in the video—Arkansas, Kentucky. And there is a big “backpacker” (or alternative) hip-hop scene that we didn’t get to. But that doesn’t take away from this video. It says exactly what needed to be said exactly when it needed to be said.» —“South on the rise in hip-hop world” by Tony Green MSNBC June 22, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A listener who grew up in Newfoundland remembers her grandfather declaring the fog was thick as burgoo. Turns out burgoo was sailors’ slang for a gray, gelatinous oatmeal—exactly the right image for an impenetrable Newfoundland fog. The word appears...
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, why do we say...