straddler
n.— «Alfred Lubrano’s “Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams” (John Wiley & Sons, 2003) examines the issues faced by those who carry their working-class upbringings into the middle class. Education brings these “Straddlers,” as he calls them, into a larger world, giving them access to safer, more intellectually stimulating jobs, but also divides them from their parents and the people with whom they grew up.» —“Succeeding With an Upbringing That’s Not Upper Crust” by Mary Ellen Slayter Washington Post May 2, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
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...