Brand names, children’s games, and the etiquette of phone conversations. Those clever plastic PEZ dispensers come in all shapes and sizes—but where did the word PEZ come from? The popular candy’s name is the product of wordplay involving...
Tokuji Hayakawa was an early-20th-century entrepreneur whose inventions included a mechanical pencil he called the Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil, and later renamed the Ever-Sharp Pencil. Over time his company branched into other types of inventions, and...
innerpreneur n.— «The innerpreneur is someone who is basically an entrepreneur but who is working for the sole purpose of personal growth and development rather than for the purpose of trying to grow a specific company.» —“Why The...
junking n.— «Vendors who scavenge for collectibles often refer to the practice as "junking" or even Dumpster diving.» —“Artist and entrepreneur, Curtis Steiner shows us the value of objects ordinary or odd” by...
phone boot n.—Gloss: An informal location for recharging a cell phone or paying to place a phone call on another person’s phone. Note: A play on “phone booth” and “boot,” the rear storage compartment of a motor...
window-dress v.— «Tuesday’s markets should also be influenced by the end of the third quarter. Fund managers usually try to “window dress”—Wall Street lingo for closing out positions—before they have to report their quarterly...