POSSLQ was devised by a worker at the U.S. Census Bureau as an acronym for Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters or Partner of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters. Pronounced “possle-cue,” this term caught on briefly in the early 1970s and...
Danielle in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is looking for a word for a year or anniversary that ends in a 5 or a 0. The word lustrum is an old term for a period of five years that derives from an ancient Roman practice. A quindecennial is a 15-year...
curbstoning n. the conducting of (streetside) business without a license, especially automobile sales and formerly real estate; among census-takers, falsifying information about a household. Etymological Note: Both senses of the curbstoning come...
