Tagbasketball

Episode 1646

Cut the Mustard

Do people who work together sound alike? Yes! Over time, they may begin to develop similar patterns of speech, or what might be called an “occupational accent” that helps them communicate efficiently. Also, lots of familiar words in...

Basketball Snowbird

In basketball, a snowbird is a player who hangs back while the rest of her team plays defense. That way, she’s ready to break for the basket when her team gets the ball. The terms snowbird and snowbirding most likely derive from the use of the...

Hunk Waffle

Decisions by dictionary editors, wacky wordplay, and Walt Whitman’s soaring verse. How do lexicographers decide which historical figures deserve a mention or perhaps even an illustration in the dictionary? The answer changes with the times. •...

Pangram Tweets

“LaBron has played more career minutes than MJ, Shaq, Hakeem, Ewing, and others. Crazy how we never expect him to get fatigued in a game.” That’s an astute observation about basketball, but it’s also a pangram, a sentence...

wrap-around

wrap-around  adj.— «I discovered another term for network airing of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments Friday morning: wrap-around coverage. Rather than focus on a single game, ESPN will switch among several games while...