scaracter n.—Gloss: an actor at a Halloween-themed amusement park or haunted house. Note: From scare + ch(ar)acter. «“I absolutely love Halloween.”…Once he learned about Scarowinds, he immediately signed on to interview for a...
full Ginsburg n.—Gloss: being a guest on all five major American Sunday morning television shows in a single day. «This momentous subject began to elbow aside scarier topics like Iraq on September 23rd, when the junior senator from New...
pepto n.— «But you have to distinguish greenies—the peptos as they were called—from steroids. Greenies only allowed you to play up to your ability. If you didn’t get a good night’s sleep, or you had a hangover, it would allow you to play...
bull rope n.— «He said for years that he was at the funeral and that he photographed the boy. “I had a telephoto lens on my camera, and we were across the street behind what we called the ‘bull rope,’ that we had to stay there,” he said...
sidewalk alumni n.pl.— «I think the fan base at Vanderbilt was just great. Tennessee dominates the state, so you had to be a great fan at Vanderbilt. I was interested that Vandy had so many sidewalk alumni, and terrific support...
deliteracy n.— «The very purpose of this series is to combat what I call the ‘deliteracy’ of current and common culture, i.e.- the active dumbing down of art and discourse. Nowadays, many magazines that used to interview people of...