Another evocative indie bookstore name: Books Are Magic in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. And how can you resist walking into an establishment with a sign outside that says “Book People”? There are at least two stores with that name in the...
Chris from Castro, New York, is curious about bum rush or bum’s rush, which refers to forcibly removing someone from an establishment. In 1987, Public Enemy’s debut album Yo! Bum Rush the Show popularized the use of bum rush to mean...
Giving your baby an unusual moniker may seem like a great idea at the time. But what if you have second thoughts? One mother of a newborn had such bad namer’s remorse, she poured out her heart to strangers online. Speaking of mothers and...
A jook joint is a roadside establishment where all sorts of drinking, dancing, and gambling may occur. Zora Neale Hurston described them in her 1934 essay “Characteristics of Negro Expression,” and the term probably derives from a West...
After passing by an establishment featuring adult entertainment, an Asheville, N.C., man began wondering: When did the word adult come to refer to “material not suitable for children”? This is part of a complete episode.
next-war-itis n.— «“By keeping Gates in there you have a guy who’s really pushing for, ‘Hey, let’s get off this next-war-itis crap,’” said Barnett, using the term Gates coined to describe the defense establishment’s obsession with a...