David in Livingston, Montana, heard a 1954 radio show in which Frank Sinatra used the phrase sweet and groovy, like a nine-cent movie. Was the word groovy really around in those days? Yes, by 1937, the term had filtered into the mainstream from the...
Are fairy tales too scary for children? A survey of parents in Britain found that more than half wouldn’t read them to their children before age five. Martha and Grant discuss the grisly imagery in fairy tales, and whether they’re too traumatizing...
Kent in Dallas grew up calling the groove between the nose and upper lip a berber, a childhood coinage that even a makeup-counter consultant briefly adopted. The standard anatomical word is philtrum, also called the infranasal depression. It comes...
witness mark n. generally, an intentional, accidental, or naturally occurring spot, line, groove, or other contrasting area that serves as an indicator of certain facts; in geography and surveying, a blaze, cut, hole, paint splash, or message...
Stella n.— «The names the men and women are known by colloquially belie the true nature of the transaction, some research suggests: It’s sex for hire, where black men’s flesh is tied—at least temporarily—to white women’s pursestrings.…If they’re...
Chinese gybe n.— «In the groove everything goes well but, every now again, a large set of waves can knock the stern around too much for comfort. Given the wind strength, the possibility of broaching (bow points too close to wind and boat heels over...
