Need a good Scrabble word? Grant shares some of his favorites. Also, why do we call those classic screwball films madcap comedies? And what does it mean to walk in a crocodile? Plus mondegreens, naval slang, learned vs learnt, and “No way...
What’s the source of the phrase “No way, Jose”? And who in the world is Jose? Although in this call Grant says the expression doesn’t show up in print until 1973, he has since found it in a college newspaper in 1966 and no doubt it is probably older...
nerd bird n.— «The “nerd bird” lives on, after all. A week after American Airlines said it would cease the San Jose-Austin daily service that bore that nickname, Alaska Airlines said Monday it will inaugurate daily service...
cathedral thinking n.— «Rogers described how he has embraced something called “cathedral thinking” and he was calling on the valley to join him. I cringed at first mention of the term, worried that he was going to digress into...
yoga ibérico n.— «Después de comer, mejor dicho, después de haberme echado lo que los patriotas decimos el yoga ibérico y los pro yanquis siesta, me voy a una tertulia.» —by Camilo José Cela Los Sueños Vanos, Los Angeles...
Iberian yoga n. jocularly, the siesta or afternoon nap. Etymological Note: Usually credited as being coined in Castillian Spanish as “yoga ibérico” by Camilo José Cela. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)