mouth-breather
n.— «“How can we reach out to the average viewer?” You know…the middle-class mouth-breather with the camper truck and the short attention span.» —“Mary Shelley, Mary Shelley” by Cyra McFadden New York Times Mag. Feb. 5, 1978. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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...
A young caller from the Hudson Valley of New York wonders about his grandmother’s use of stemwinder to praise a speech she thought was excellent. In the early 1800s, people used pocket watches that had to be wound with a tiny key. Once someone...