French hours
n.— «He works two days a week, commuting from Palm Springs to Toronto, where the Grosso-Jacobson series is produced. “We work French hours up there,” he said. “You go to work in the afternoon and work through eight hours.”» —“Off Camera” by Carol Burton Terry Melville, Newsday (N.Y.) Oct. 26, 1986. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...