plumage paradox n.— «My original instinct to buy the best is what I call the plumage paradox. A peacock’s dilemma is that having a large, beautiful tail attracts females, but it also attracts predators. The message the tail sends to the...
malus n.—Gloss: A penalty for poor performance, the opposite of a bonus. «A report by Frankfurt-based Center for Financial Studies has coined a new word—malus. Malus is Latin for “bad” while bonus means “good.” It...
financial incest n.—Gloss: Telling one’s children about family financial affairs in such a way or to such a degree that they learn too much and become overly concerned. «While experts say the current financial crisis is a good way...
Chekhov’s gun n.— «There’s a literary technique called “Chekhov’s gun” where something introduced early in a story is revealed only later as significant. In Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya, for example, a pistol is a...
Grant has the latest headlines from the world of language, including the debate over the name of the home of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Is Beijing pronounced bay-JING or bay-ZHING? Also, a recent court decision concerning an offense that’s...
bring-down n.— «At the same time the advanced due-diligence process, known as “bring-down,” being undertaken by B&B’s advisers had started to turn up some disturbing figures in the mortgage book.» —“B&B had to pass the...