Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm...
Since the late 19th century, the word scrumbunctious has been used to describe someone who is energetic or high-spirited. Scrumbunctious is probably a portmanteau of scrumptious and rambunctious. This is part of a complete episode.
algo n.— «Powerful algorithms—“algos,” in industry parlance—execute millions of orders a second and scan dozens of public and private marketplaces simultaneously. They can spot trends before other investors can blink, changing orders and...
An Alabama high-school teacher observes that one of his fellow teachers tends to write words that should be plural as singular, such as “I graded all 50 test” instead of “I graded all 50 tests.” The reason for this locution...
relay n.— «There are millions of hard-shell clams on the harbor bottom, but pollutants and bacteria can make the shellfish dangerous to eat, especially raw. Some are okay for “relay,” a process whereby tainted shellfish are moved to a...
media pad n.— «One device is a smaller, less expensive calling device described by a person who has seen it as an “iPhone lite.” The other is a media pad that would let users listen to music, view photos, and watch high...