Did you learn the vowels as “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” “u,” and sometimes “y” and “w”? A caller who was taught that in second grade was left wondering: When and where does...
It’s a brand-new season of A Way with Words! Grant has big news, too: He’s used up his last Metrocard, packed up his belongings, and moved to the Left Coast. He reports on some features of California language there that are already...
.5 generation n.— «Sociologists call Mr. Singh and his cohort the “.5 generation,” distinct from the “1.5 generation”—younger transplants who became bicultural through school and work. Immigrant elders leave a familiar home, some without...
cap-and-traitor n.— «Could somebody please explain the difference between people on the Right calling the eight GOP congressmen who voted for the Obama-Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade anti-global warming energy bill “cap and...
Taliban union n.— «The speculation follows much earlier talk that the “Taliban Unions” (as the extreme left unions are affectionately known by more moderate industrial organisations) would be looking to behead Boydy at the earliest...
cutter n.— «It is a bread-and-butter pitch for many left-handers—the fastball that bores in on right-handed batters, a “cutter” as it is known.» —“Slumping Renteria: ‘I feel bad’” by Lynn Henning in...