Novelist Charles Dickens and the musician Prince were very different types of artists, but they also had a lot in common. A new book chronicling their extraordinary careers becomes a larger meditation on perfectionism and creativity itself. Plus...
Our conversation about bang out sick and bang in sick, both meaning to “call one’s employer to say they’re not coming in to work,” prompted a response from historian Judith Flanders, who notes that in the UK, there’s a...
In response to our conversation about using the term bedroom suite to denote a collection of furniture, Judith in Glen Rose, Texas, shares a hilarious story about when her Pennsylvania-born beau misunderstood what she meant when she told him she...
showmance n.— «Playing Doody (“Those Magic Changes”) and Frenchy, the “Beauty School Dropout,” the two hit it off right away. They were both hard-working, both passionate about the theater, both committed...
gross-up n.— «Union pension plan activists aim to raise a new executive compensation issue at corporate annual meetings this year: so-called “gross-ups” to cover income taxes on payouts.…Gross-up payments reimburse...
bottle show n.— «The producers decided to fall back on a cost-saving television gimmick—a combined clip and bottle show. “Clip,” because a sizable part of the episode would consist of clips from previous episodes, and...