snapper
n.— «Police said a correctional officer overheard Campbell say to Morrissey, “At least I’m not a snapper like you.” Officials at the prison said that in Vermont prisons “snapper” is a derogatory term for an inmate who has either been accused of or convicted of sexual assault. At the time of the alleged assault, Morrissey was being held on aggravated sexual assault charges.» —“Man denies inmate assault” by Josh O’Gorman Rutland Herald (Vermont) Feb. 19, 2008. (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...
How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A...
