When does a word’s past make it too sensitive to use in the present? In contra dancing, there’s a particular move that dancers traditionally call a gypsy. But there’s a growing recognition that many people find the term gypsy...
A simile is a rhetorical device that describes by comparing two different things or ideas using the word like or as. But what makes a good simile? The 1910 book Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases, by Yale public-speaking instructor Grenville Kleiser...
Does anyone still say “Shut UP!” to mean “No way!”? A forty-something riding instructor says this Seinfeldian locution confuses some of her younger students. This is part of a complete episode.
J-hopping n.— «To jump a pair of foot-high tree roots spanning a trail in Woodland Park, mountain bike instructor Simon Lawton uses a technique called J-hopping which, like the Ollie skateboard move, is something I still can’t get my head...
latching on n.— «Linda Parker, the instructor, shimmies to the right and then to the left, her tan, pointy cowboy boots gliding across the carpet. Her thumbs are tucked into her black belt, a practice called “latching on.” “The reason you...
foo-foo adj.— «My brother John, ski instructor to Aspen vacationers, has a term for the town’s upscale restaurant food. He calls it “foo-foo food.” Although he appreciates fine cuisine, he’s just as happy with a burger and...