cupcake
v.— «Once teams start to double-team Duran on the line, you’ll get a glimpse—a fleeting glimpse—of Pojoaque’s two stand-out middle linebackers, Steve Garcia and Ruben “Cupcake” Sisneros. Don’t let the nickname fool you. This cupcake is not of the frosted variety. At 6-2, 205, he can stick a ball carrier. The nickname was just something that the seniors gave him during his freshman season as motivation. “They told me, ‘damnit, quit cup-caking it out there. Hit somebody!,’” Sisneros said. “And it just stuck from there.”» —“Getting defensive” by Lee Yobbi in Pojoaque Santa Fe New Mexican Aug. 18, 2001. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Colette Hiller’s Colossal Words for Kids: 75 Tremendous Words: Neatly Defined to Stick in the Mind (Bookshop|Amazon) uses clever rhymes to help children learn big, fun-to-say words like magnanimous, discombobulated, and acquiesce. This...
Is there something inherent in English that makes it the linguistic equivalent of the Borg, dominating and consuming other languages in its path? No, not at all. The answer lies with politics and conquest rather than language itself. Plus: a new...