Fedders house n. a cheaply made apartment building, specifically those featuring highly visible window air conditioner sleeves bearing the brand name “Fedders.” Editorial Note: This term is specific to New York City and is usually plural, Fedders houses, in an echo of naming terminology for government-sponsored apartment complexes, such as Walt Whitman Houses. It was coined by Victoria Hofmo, a community activist from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originating in Asia—the tomatoes came only later! Plus, a new book shows what’s lost when a language dies: when there...
Nancy Gabriel from Ithaca, New York, recalls her father’s no-nonsense responses to minor injuries when she was a child: After making sure she was really all right, he’d say, It’s far enough from your heart; it won’t kill you. Other times he...