adultism n.— «One specific “ism” that GLSEN takes great pains to address is “adultism,” which the guide defines as “behaviors and attitudes that adults are better than young people, and entitled to act upon them without their agreement.”...
cranial-rectal inversion n.— «I learned that Officer Sam Morgan, of the California Highway Patrol, occasionally uses the term “cranial-rectal inversion” when referring to drivers of especially poor judgment, which was one of the most...
skylock n.— «After a cursory examination, the chief of the contractor’s crew, which had been repairing the building’s facade, said that a “skylock”—the brake on one of the scaffold’s twin motors—had apparently failed, leading to the one...
opportunity room n.— «He had brought a cheat sheet to class and gotten caught. Now the students were sitting in judgment of him.…The six students deliberated and decided the offender deserved three days of in-school suspension...
highway hypnosis n.— «Even without actually falling asleep, drivers can go for miles in what some experts call “highway hypnosis,” with their reflexes slowed and their judgment impaired.» —“When lack of sleep can...
scriptment n.— «“What do you mean, you’re going to greenlight the movie with a kid named Matt directing?” Mr. Grey said, according to Mr. Weston. Yet with just a 65-page “scriptment” (more than a treatment, less than a script) laying out...