jillpoke
n.— «Case in point: Jillpoke. The word belongs to the vernacular of woodsmen in the western United States, where it is applied to any outsized sucker that has grown up into the branches of the tree. A jillpoke is an encumbrance that should be removed for the health of the tree.» —“Those no-good jillpokes” by Michael Ackley WorldNetDaily July 16, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Alan Connor serves as crossword puzzle editor for The Guardian, and his new book is a word lover’s delight. It’s called 188 Words for Rain: A Delightfully Damp Tour of the British Isles Led by Natural Forces (Amazon). The book opens 7,000 feet above...
Brownie points, or “credit earned for good behavior or useful effort,” was probably popularized by a fanciful 1951 Los Angeles Times column about how husbands supposedly score points on an invisible domestic scorecard by doing household chores. The...