The German publisher Langenscheidt declared smombie as the Youth Word of the Year for 2015. A portmanteau of the German borrowings smartphone and zombie, Smombie denotes someone so absorbed in their small, glowing screen that they’re oblivious to...
Ready for some crazy crossword clues? The hosts discuss some clever ones, like “hula hoop?” (3 letters). Also, is the correct term jury-rigged or jerry-rigged? Why are Marines called gyrenes? When someone points out the obvious, do you say “duh!” or...
Andy from San Diego wonders why his students object when he pronounces bury with the vowel of jury or fury, rather than like berry. The word comes from Old English byrgan, and its modern spelling and pronunciation reflect different regional paths in...
Jury-rigged is the older form for a makeshift repair, likely from nautical jury mast, an emergency mast rigged when the real one was lost or broken. Sean in Michigan has also heard jerry-rigged and, from an IT co-worker, Gary-rigged. The jerry...
peter roll v. phr.— «Jurors heard from teens ages 14-17, who described their lives near areas where guns are readily available. Wednesday, a 16-year-old gang member told jurors that prior to Brown’s murder, Latham said he wanted to “peter roll”...
jugaad n. an improvised or jury-rigged solution; inventiveness, ingenuity, cleverness. Etymological Note: < Hindi. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)