escrachan
n.— «Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner, for instance, rarely misses the opportunity in public appearances to call out, by name, journalists who have offended him. These occasions often lead to threats against journalists, according to IAPA. More worrying, the association says, is “the emergence of groups of thugs aligned to the president that, in the style of Fascist gangs of the past,” physically attack journalists or buildings housing news organizations. Argentinean journalists at IAPA’s annual meeting said the phenomenon is so common that a slang word has been coined to describe it: “escrachan.”» —“IAPA: Press Freedom in Hemisphere ‘Seriously Diminished’” by Mark Fitzgerald Editor & Publisher Oct. 3, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A new book about how animals perceive their environment reveals immense worlds beyond our own. A bee can see ultraviolet light, catfish have taste buds all over their bodies, and manatees use highly sensitive lips to examine nearby objects. Also...
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...