monster
n.— «It is an addiction which has within it philosophical, as well as conceptual and behavioral elements, that make it even harder to deal with. Under the shadow of unimportance, indifference, and humor, this monster keeps growing within us.» —“Who says I am an addict?” by Kamran Hakim (hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com) Usenet: soc.culture.misc May 16, 1991. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
After hearing our conversation about how dictionaries decide on a preferred pronunciation, and specifically about how to pronounce aioli, Vern from San Diego, California, wrote to say that a friend once made fun of him for pronouncing grimace with a...