arson dog n.— «Their job is accelerant-detection canine, better known as an arson dog. The Labrador retrievers are trained to sniff out accelerants such as gasoline, kerosene or lighter fluid at a scene when arson is suspected...
job and knock n.— «A regular inquiry theme has been the RailCorp tradition of “job and knock”—a term for leaving a job after only a couple of hours but charging for the whole day.» —“Employee goes back to work despite...
interrupter n.— «CeaseFire tries to deal with these quarrels on the front end. Hoddenbach’s job is to suss out smoldering disputes and to intervene before matters get out of hand. His job title is violence interrupter, a term that while...
Greetings, workers of the world! This is another newsletter from A Way with Words. This past weekend's show was re-run about the secret words of families. Give it a spin: We also talked about "knocked up," "the real...
user anthropologist n.— «He’s also sometimes referred to as a “user anthropologist.” To an outsider, the job can seem decidedly oblique. His mission, broadly defined, is to peer into the lives of other people, accumulating as much...
How-do, neighbor! It’s another issue of the A Way with Words newsletter. This past weekend's show was a brand-new treat, stuffed full of chewy language goodness. We talked about "the vapors," whether...