cliff effect
n.— Note: Related to digital cliff. «Over-the-air digital television is an all-or-nothing proposition, Lewin said, meaning a television will either show a picture as clear as cable, or no picture at all. It’s commonly called the “cliff effect.”» —“Your rabbit ears might not catch all digital TV signals” by Jeff Frantz York Daily Record (Pennsylvania) Feb. 28, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A Kentucky listener says her father often prefaced statements with the phrase I tell you what’s the truth. This regionalism appears in the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (Bookshop|Amazon). A shorter version is I’ll tell you...
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...