This week’s “Slang This!” contestant, from Cold Spring, Kentucky, tries to tease out the real slang words from the fake ones. Rubber-bands or herkies? An executive handle or a producer’s button? This is part of a complete...
bedder n.— «More on Bedder 6, the unlikely name given to Jeremy Clarkson and his Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman’s production company. Monkey’s mind may be even more puerile than Clarkson’s. Last week we speculated it might be a...
green card soldier n.— «There are tens of thousands of foreign-born members in the U.S. armed forces. Many have been naturalized, but more than 20,000 are not U.S. citizens. “Green card soldiers,” they are often called, and...
juicy committee n.— «The Nigerian coinage, “juicy committee,” is a thinly disguised reference to the abuse of committees by legislators to demand bribes and/or contracts from the ministries, departments or agencies (MDAs) of...
gross-up n.— «Union pension plan activists aim to raise a new executive compensation issue at corporate annual meetings this year: so-called “gross-ups” to cover income taxes on payouts.…Gross-up payments reimburse...
Uncle Dupey n.— «Many newcomers to Delaware work for what’s now the state’s main source of employment, credit card banks. Old-school Delawareans are more likely to have roots in the chemical industry, long dominated by the DuPont Co...