Linguist Brianne Hughes has compiled more than 1200 cutthroat compounds, including smell-feast meaning a freeloader, and smellfungus, a chronic complainer. For a lively primer about such compounds, check out her video. This is part of a complete...
Hey, look: there are three brand-new episodes to tell you about! Each includes a few rounds of devious word puzzles cooked up by our quiz guy John Chaneski, as well as: Last weekend, “Secret Gibberish”: piggyback gibberish the pronunciation of...
Martha tries to unravel the tangled etymological web that connects gossamer, spiders, geese, and warm weather in a late autumn.
chop-up n.— «Mr. Albarn brought them as well into the revue, or the “chop-up,” as he called it—a Nigerian term for a feast.» —“Street Energy in a Festive Ruckus of African Grooves and Western Pop” by Ben Ratliff New York Times July 14, 2008...
whalefall n.— «The ocean is home to many weird creatures, but few that are as weird as the worms of the genus Osedax. The handful of known species of these worms feast on the bones of “whalefalls,” carcasses on the seafloor.» —“Whales Are Tasty...
self-licking ice cream cone n.— «SDI has become “a self-licking ice cream cone. It serves no purpose except to consume itself.”» —“Critics Call Star Wars A Contractors’ Feast” by Tim Weiner Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania) Mar. 23, 1992...