spike the lens v. phr.— «In the final moments of the Munchkin Land scene, in which Glinda the good witch (played by Billie Burke) instructs Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road, it’s easy to spot young Priscilla, near Burke, as the youngster...
secular adj.— «In Wall Street parlance, a very long period of falling or, at best, sideways-moving stock prices is termed a “secular” bear market. And there have been some doozies in relatively recent U.S. history.» —“What to do if stocks’ troubles...
You’ve just read a terrific paperback novel. Would you feel any differently about it if you’d the same words on the glowing screen of an electronic book? Martha and Grant discuss the social and psychological implications of books that run on...
A Milwaukee listener is curious about an expression he uses to describe underlings who can’t seem to do something right: “You give ’em books, and all they do is eat the covers!” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Eating the Covers”...
poohbutt
n.— «Poohbutt Someone who thinks he is a gang member but is not considered worthy.» —“Linguistic Labyrinth” by Sam Enriquez Los Angeles Times Aug. 11, 1986. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
clip job n.— «Horwitt writes that he spent five years interviewing Feingold, his family and friends. He also read a lot of local and national newspapers, judging by the footnotes. But he drew on few other sources, and the result is something of a...