quinceañera
n.— «There is no doubt that the Hispanic coming-of-age quinceañera is more popular, move lavish and, in subtle ways, more American than ever. Picture a souped-up debutante ball without the high-society trappings or a bat mitzvah with an extra dose of razzle-dazzle, and a portrait emerges of many modern-day quinceañeras, a term that derives from the word quince (pronounced KEEN-say), which means 15 in Spanish.» —“Latinas Make Sweet 16-ish Their Own” by Lizette Alvarez New York Times May 11, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and distribute used dictionaries to help inmates with...
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...