If you start the phrase when in Rome… but don’t finish the sentence with do as the Romans do, or say birds of a feather… without adding flock together, you’re engaging in anapodoton, a term of rhetoric that refers to the...
The English language has been greatly enriched by borrowings from the languages of Asia. Barely scratching the surface, we have from Japan skosh, tycoon, tsunami, origami, yen, kimono, futon, and karaoke. From Chinese comes yen, kowtow, gung ho, and...
Mateo in Richmond, Virginia, is curious about a story he heard about the term paper tiger, meaning “something that looks fearsome or ferocious, but is actually flimsy or weak.” It’s not from Tiger, a type of German tank used during...
cheena adj.— «I could not help but feel that my entire being was placed in the wrong school, in fact, the wrong Cheena[1] school.…[1]A local slang word meaning “Very Chinese.”» —“Chinese, only on the inside” by...
Chimerica n.—Gloss: The symbiotic Chinese-American financial relationship, in which there is a great trade imbalance as Americans save little and buy lots, and there is a great investment in American Treasury bills and the dollar by the...
swimmer n.— «In Australia, Russian and Chinese swimmers were second and third in the medals table, at the time of writing—a marked improvement on last year. These countries are also producing more “swimmers” in capital markets, where it...