Howdy from Wordville! In this week’s archive edition of “A Way with Words,” we talk about Mushroom Basket, Moose Point, and other wacky names given to paint chips and nail polish colors. We also discussed the origin of...
flour gold n.— «You can find nuggets. California is renowned for having larger pieces. But primarily what you’re going to find at first is fine gold, or flour gold as they call it. That’s all worth money too. Don’t throw it out, or be...
gold-beater’s skin n.— «As a conservator, if we saw a tear like this, we’d look to parchment repair, a very similar organic material.…They use something called gold-beater’s skin—the lining of a cow’s stomach—very, very thin...
fil-lim n.—Gloss: a movie believed to be important or to have a significant message. Note: From an exaggerated pronunciation of “film.” This term seems to be similar to the Anglo-Indian phillum. «If the conceit holds...
sidewalk alumni n.pl.— «People said he liked green because we’re Irish, but actually he was, and is, a Notre Dame red-hot, one of the well-known sidewalk alumni. Notre Dame’s colors are kelly green and gold, and that was Charlie’s...
flight to cash n.— «Isn’t it odd that when a financial crises threatens to get underway today hot money rushes to turn just about everything into fiat paper dollars? In something that has come to be called a “flight to cash,” for a little...