In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
How do actors bring Shakespeare’s lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That technique is called billboarding. And: Anyone for an...
We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from culture to culture. In Sweden, that starry band goes by a name that means “Winter Street,” and in Hawaii, a term for the Milky Way...
Martha in Portland, Oregon, has long joked about having an imaginary boyfriend named Raoul. Then she discovered that two friends of hers also joke about their own imaginary boyfriend named Raoul. Then a third friend told her about yet another woman...
Finnegan pin n. a non-existent part or tool; a thing whose name is forgotten or unknown; a doo-dad or thingamajig. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)