Welcome to another newsletter from "A Way with Words"! Where the heck have we been? Working on a brand-new season, that's where. It starts this coming weekend. That's right--brand-new episodes, chock full of...
eatertainment n.— «In our society, eating, especially eating “fun” foods that are high in fats, salt, and sugar, is one of the cheapest (at least in immediate costs) forms of recreation. They referred to it as...
fasthole n.— Note: From “fast” + “asshole.” «Fasthole—ˈfast—hÅl (noun): Someone who thinks they’re better than another runner simply because they are faster. In my group of running friends, we use the name as a...
Martha muses about the language of falconry, and in the process, reveals the origins of several words and phrases in one fell swoop.
ragdoll physics n.— «There are a lot of details in games that slightly improve the overall-feel, but that doesn’t change the gameplay. Things like being able to look at your feet in FPS games adds to the impression players get but isn’t a...
Apatown n.— «It sounds like fun and games—the boozy, all-woman answer to those close-knit gangs of Hollywood boy-men captured on screen in “Entourage” and embodied by the real-life Apatown, the industry moniker for filmmaker Judd Apatow’s...