butterflies
n.pl.— «Are you more of the Grace Kelly or Sophia Loren type? Cat eyes, invented in the 1960s often called today butterflies, are always in style. If you’re starlet material, these are for you. Kata Eyewear’s Illusion 5 as well as Marc People’s Arebelle are both Isabella’s favorites for their unique colors.» —“How Will You See the Summer?” by Kim Abdo Greater Tulsa Reporter (Oklahoma) June 29, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Amy from Charlotte, North Carolina, reports a dispute arose when visiting her brother’s family. Is a large container for storing sugar properly called a can or a canister? The answer involves prototype theory, which in cognitive linguistics and...
Whippoorwills, bob whites, and chickadees. How do we decide the names of birds and what to call their calls? Plus, the last syllables of Arkansas and Kansas are pronounced differently, but they come from the same etymological root. And: What’s the...