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
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...
Jane in Denver, Colorado, notes some people using the term an in front of a word beginning with a consonant, as if to emphasize that word by modifying it with the incorrect definite article. That may be what’s happening in this scene from the...