Obamamania, Obamabot, Obamathon, Obamamentum— the list of variations on the name “Obama” goes on and on. Is there an English word that means “the in-laws of your son or daughter”? And what does it mean when someone...
Pope’s nose is a jocular name for the fatty tail end of a turkey, the part also called the parson’s nose, or more anatomically, the uropygium. Holly in Oregon heard the expression from a nun in Alaska and wondered whether it was irreverent. It fits...
Welcome to another edition of the A Way with Words newsletter. This week we talked about "see a man about a horse," one of the most popular search terms that brings people to our web site. Who woulda thunk it? And, of course, we gave...
distavore n.— «To prove how wrong the farm-to-table movement is, I cooked a dinner purely of farm-to-airplane food. Nothing I made was grown within 3,000 miles of where I live in Los Angeles.…My distavore meal was more a smorgasbord...
family meal n.— «I had arrived at 4 p.m. to experience a daily ritual that takes place in hundreds of restaurants across the city, and in thousands more across the country: family meal. Chanterelle was the last stop on a month-long, eight...
mermaid tear n.— Note: Nurdles are defined here. «More alarmingly, research has shown that small plastic pieces, also termed nurdles or “mermaid tears”, act like sponges, absorbing pollutants and other harmful substances. When consumed by...