Whippoorwills, bob whites, and chickadees. How do we decide the names of birds and what to call their calls? Plus, the last syllables of Arkansas and Kansas are pronounced differently, but they come from the same etymological root. And: What’s the...
When a British tabloid reporter writing about a crocodile attack needed a synonym for crocodile, he went with knobbly monster, now a joking term for similarly creative ways of avoiding repetition. Juliet and Matthew Maguire, described by The...
According to The Little Book of Second Mentions: The Art of Avoiding Repetition (Bookshop|Amazon), a journalist once referred to a watermelon as the pink-fleshed crowd pleaser. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pink-Fleshed Crowd...
The handy term omnishambles means all in shambles, and has found its way from the British TV comedy The Thick of It to the floor of the House of Commons. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Omnishambles” Great new word from the UK...