Allison in Redwood City, California, says her family has long used the word zorbit to refer to what happens when someone playfully blows a raspberry on your cheek or belly to make a funny sound. That’s probably their version of a fanciful word first...
Bill Cosby is perhaps the latest but certainly not the first celebrity whom the public has fallen out of love with over something terrible they did that went public. Is there a term for this kind of mass disenchantment with a celebrity? This is part...
In this downbeat economy, some advertisers are reaching for upbeat language. Take the new Quaker Oats catchphrase, “Go humans go,” or Coca-Cola’s current slogan, “Open happiness.” Martha and Grant discuss whether chirpy, happy ad copy can go too far...
You know the sputtering, raspberry-like noises you make with your lips on a baby’s tummy so he’ll giggle? Many people call that a raspberry, but some people call that a zerbert. A caller’s husband insists that Bill Cosby coined the term on his...
Fat Albert n.— «When Boeing developed the 737 in the late 1960s, some pilots referred to it as Fluf, which stood for Fat Little Ugly Fella. The plane’s wingspan and fuselage length were almost the same, giving the 737 a stubby appearance. It also...
FLUF n.— «When Boeing developed the 737 in the late 1960s, some pilots referred to it as Fluf, which stood for Fat Little Ugly Fella. The plane’s wingspan and fuselage length were almost the same, giving the 737 a stubby appearance. It also got the...
