bummer
n.— «Sometimes, in spite of all our encouragement, a ewe will refuse to accept her lamb.…Some people call the rejects pet lambs, but other shepherds—including us—refer to them as bummers. Sure, they’re cute when they follow you everywhere, but the toddlers are also real nuisances to any busy farmer!» —“Living Through Lambing” by Elora McKenzie Mother Earth News Jan.-Feb., 1982. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished...