Want to get your mug on our website? We’re making a Word Wall, featuring all you listeners and your favorite words, so take a picture holding a piece of paper with your favorite word on it close to your face and send it to us. The collecting starts...
You’ve noticed work seems to expand to fill the time given to complete it. But did you know there’s a term for that? Also this week, the New England exclamation “So don’t I!,” grey vs. gray, building storeys, being squiffy, having chops, getting...
What does it mean to have chops? In the 1500s, chops was a slang term for the face or lips, but it carried into African-American jazz culture to mean that a brass or wind player had good embouchure. The idea is reflected in the old jazz musician’s...
chop-chop adj.— «Their monkey business was recently uncovered, they have been caught red handed dipping their dirty fingers in the cookie jar like the P1.3 million auto-clave scam. The machine used to sterilize hospital tools failed to meet...
chop-up n.— «Mr. Albarn brought them as well into the revue, or the “chop-up,” as he called it—a Nigerian term for a feast.» —“Street Energy in a Festive Ruckus of African Grooves and Western Pop” by Ben Ratliff New York Times July 14, 2008...
