Monica in Burlington, Vermont, says a friend recently told her that her day became kerfunkulated, and Monica knew what she meant without even asking. Why do we successfully infer the meaning of such words? Placeholder words such as thingamajiggy, doohickey,whatchamacallit, and dumaflache are vague terms that substitute for something else and serve a useful semantic function. If you can track down the book Vague Language by Joanna Channel (Internet Archive) it’s a useful resource on the effect of using such words and challenges the notion that it’s always desirable for one’s language to be precise. Another book along these lines is the collection of essays edited by linguist Joan Cutting called Vague Language Explored (Amazon). This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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