You know that feeling when you walk into a shopping mall and are so overwhelmed by all the distractions you lose track of what you came there for? That’s the Gruen Transfer or Gruen Effect, named for Victor Gruen, the architect who designed the...
One term that rose to prominence in 2017: fidget spinner. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “”Fidget Spinner” for Word fo the Year?” You know now that I think about it, another term that burst onto the scene this year is the term...
Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature — like, say, Dante’s Inferno? A literary website is doing just that. And, you’ve heard about the First World and the Third World...
Shopping malls take their name from the fashionable street now known as Pall Mall in London’s St. James area. The game of pall-mall, which involves hitting a ball with a wooden mallet, was once played there. This is part of a complete episode...
county store n.— «Whelan said the county appropriated but never spent $30,000 from its 2009 budget for setting up a “county store,” a term for a multipurpose government office in a public place like a mall.» —“Plan would extend voting facility...
crush load n.— «And while items like backpacks will be allowed on the Mall, Mr. Wiley said it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring them if you were coming by Metro because people would be standing “shoulder to shoulder.” Metro, which will start running...