bah-see zhan

bah-see zhan
 n.— «In just a few years, a vibrant, competitive and largely self-contained economy had materialized around the bus stop, or bah-see zhan, an economy that employed at least 200 people, all of them bound to one another in a complicated network of alliances, dependencies and feuds.» —“Dreams and Desperation on Forsyth Street” by Saki Knafo New York Times June 8, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

Stopping at Every Milk Can

The German phrase Der Bus hält an jeder Milchkanne literally translates as “The bus stops at every milk can,” and refers to a bus that stops at every little out-of-the-way town. This is part of a complete episode.

Related

Bug in Your Ear (episode #1537)

Is there something inherent in English that makes it the linguistic equivalent of the Borg, dominating and consuming other languages in its path? No, not at all. The answer lies with politics and conquest rather than language itself. Plus: a new...