clownsuit engine n.— «A clownsuit engine…does an advanced Google search within specific parameters. In this case, it searches for files on one click hosts that contain the keywords the clown and the little boy type into the search...
check the boxes v. phr.— «In lobbying parlance, this is known as “checking the boxes”—meticulously informing powerful congressmen and senators about a transaction they might want to weigh in on down the road. Lobbyists live by...
Greetings, wanderers, and welcome home. This past weekend on A Way with Words we wrestled with "commentate," "tie me over" vs. "tide me over," long words, and "biweekly" vs. "semiweekly." We also...
knol n.— «Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol,” which stands for a unit of knowledge.…At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the...
Gripple n.—Gloss: a Wall Street term for Google, Research in Motion, and Apple together. «Gripple is Wall Street argot for Google, Research in Motion and Apple. The concept is they are really one stock, interchangeable as to valuation and...
Grant goes through the mailbag, offering answers about the terms “nosy parker,” “out of pocket,” and about whether the word “falsehood” has its origins in medieval garb. He also throws a question out to listeners...