Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game of aptronyms for people whose names fit certain locations or conditions. For example, a guy hanging onto a wall might be named Art. Or what do you call a woman between two buildings? Ally! This is part of a...
Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a Grant and Martha version of The Odd Man Out Game, wherein one term doesn’t belong in the list of four. Take Martha, Irving, Denzel, and Booker. Which one doesn’t fit? It’s Irving, because “Washington” is his first name...
Hi! Last week, we discussed “jabronies,” “winklehawks,” “motherwit,” “purfling,” and a handy new way to say “not my problem.” We also pondered why people call their biceps “guns,” and tackled a quiz about palindromes. Several of you sent us your...
maitre-dish
n.— «Both worked at the Fog City Diner; Doug as bartender, Nancy as “maitre-dish.”» —“After a few years, he fit the picture” by Louise Rafkin San Francisco Chronicle (California) July 19, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
shave rule n.— «Add the fact that curveballs aren’t allowed, with a few exceptions for more developed pitchers, who fit what is called the shave rule, meaning that a youngster is generally physically developed enough to safely throw curves when...
This past weekend on "A Way with Words," we mulled over whether part of the recession-busting bailouts the government is proposing should be targeted at reviving the Federal Writers' Project of the 1930s. Get a taste of that, and more...