When you’re distracted by trying to get the perfect photo at a wedding or fiddling with your camera during a solar eclipse, you’re missing out on some of the experience itself. There’s a term for this: It’s called overshadowing. Plus one of Lionel...
Trombonist Benjamin Jacobs-El, who toured with jazz great Lionel Hampton, calls from Huntsville, Alabama, to say that Hampton regularly addressed friends and band members as gate, as in Hey, gates, how’re you doing? Is that because good jazz swings...
A cataract is not only an eye condition, it’s also a waterfall. And the two uses of the word are related, in the sense that in the ancient world, a cataracta was one of those iron gates that hung outside a city, such as Pompeii, to protect against...
Martha spotted a choice cartoon: A dog is sitting behind a gate under a sign that says Beware of Dog. The caption: “Can I read you my poems?” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Dog Cartoon” Granted, I came across a cartoon recently...
shot berry n.— «I spoke to Paul Vossen, Sonoma County farm adviser, about your question. He says that your olives are producing what is known as “shot berries,” tiny fruit that isn’t pollinated and then drops from the tree. The most likely reason...
Hockey mom, mavericky, snow machines, and—how could we forget that other memorable phrase from the 2008 presidential campaign?—lipstick on a pig. Some new and not-so-new terms leapt onto the national stage during Gov. Sarah Palin‘s run for the vice...