parlor
n.— «Lobsters like the shelter of rocks and prefer cold water to warm. They move around a lot and find their food by smell—that’s what the antennas are for—and not by sight. But the whole notion of trapping them may be a misconception. There is some evidence to suggest that the traditional lobster pot, with its two “rooms”—the kitchen and the parlor, as they’re known—and funnel-shaped nets, is not as confining as fishermen think, and that the bugs come and go more or less as they please.» —“Lobsters That Got Away, and Those That Didn’t ” by Charles McGrath in Westport, Massachusetts New York Times Nov. 6, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re holding an old-fashioned candlestick phone. Now you can sign...
If you alternate alcoholic beverages with glasses of water over the course of an evening, you’re said to be zebra striping. This bit of slang was inspired by how the animal’s alternating black-and-white markings are like the contrast between the...