Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
racecraft n.— «“When you get to this stage, these guys know how to drive race cars,” said Mears, who is working with driver Will Power as he prepares for his second Indy start and first with Penske on May 24. “So it’s really...
four-spotting n.— «Like most professional golfers, Lowery has suffered through his own trail of lament.…There was losing his TOUR card and the two years of surviving the vagaries of Monday qualifying, “four-spotting” as...
brass ceiling n.— «Dunwoody’s daughter, Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, 55, has just been tapped by President Bush to take over a new Army command as the first female four-star general in the history of the armed services.…Dunwoody was...
four-quadrant film n.— «But the bigger a film budget becomes, the more it’s thought necessary to attract EVERYONE to see it in order to pay off that budget (making it a “four-quadrant” film, in current parlance). So the more expensive the...
four-handed dentistry n.— «From 1961 to 1987, the Kentucky native trained Loyola University students in an emerging technique known as “four-handed dentistry,” whereby dentists employ the skills of dental assistants, often...