bedwetter n.— «A member of Congress once told me that Representatives who consider changing their votes based on only a dozen or so phone calls from constituents are referred to as “bedwetters” by the other members of Congress...
dag n.—Gloss: A euphemized or modified form of “damn.” «“He was selling it right here at the bar? Dag. I didn’t know it was that kind of place.” According to court documents, Mr. Younge, 50, of the Bronx, sold illegal drugs on...
tabbing n.— «All of sudden a helicopter rises out of a valley, makes one pass over the landing site, before zeroing in and touching down.…They are returning after a night under the stars, tabbing, as they call it, around a dozen...
suicide gown n.— «Across the way, about a dozen inmates are engaged in a “socialization” exercise. Some participants are chained to benches—”for civilian workers” safety,” as Hong explains it. Others sit...
sidezoomer n.— «Sidezoomers have a variety of strategies, each exaggerated by the configuration of the Caldecott but replicated in bottlenecks across the land: there are the ones who zoom by a few dozen cars, angling in when they see a...
Booya! It's another newsletter from A Way with Words. This past weekend's show rocked the mic. We talked about "voluntold," "apple of my eye," nicknames for Vancouver, and the expression "a face that could gag a...