Discover the joys (and temptations!) of two new books of collected wisdom: “The Yale Book of Quotations” edited by Fred Shapiro, and James Geary’s “Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists.” Grant explains why leafing...
smog v.— «Vehicles which were made before 1965 are not required to be smogged for registration.» —“A student’s guide to buying a dependable used car” in San Diego State University Daily...
cadillacking v.— «Bass is correct in saying that too many people go “cadillacking” along with herbs and take large doses.» —“John K. Crellin, Jane Philpott” A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants , 1989...
servery n.— «Wired: Any simple ideas for charging devices? Stewart: I have something called the servery. It’s a room with two long white marble counters on either side and lots of plugs. That’s where everything is—I have my cameras, a lot...
Mother’s Day factor n.— «The trick is to load up the switch as much as possible, short of “blocking” or what telephone engineers refer to as “the Mother’s Day Factor.” Translation: Telephone traffic is typically...
blue bird sale n.— «The flip side of this is the “blue bird” sale, where the product is offered at, say, 100 with full expectation that it will sell for 90, but the customer either pays list or selects several high-priced...