Victorian slang and a modern controversy over language and gender. In the early 1900’s, a door-knocker wasn’t just what visitors used to announce their arrival, it was a type of beard with a similar shape. And in the 21st century: Is it...
The 1909 slang collection Passing English of the Victorian Era defines the phrase to introduce shoemaker to tailor this way: “Evasive metaphor for fundamental kicking.” In other words, to introduce shoemaker to tailor means to give...
When hiking off-trail, it’s important to keep an eye on where you’ve been as well as where you’re going. Otherwise, you run the risk of what experienced hikers call being “ledged out”, which means you’ve descended...
It’s the business of business jargon. Say you’re in line at the drugstore. Does it bother you if the cashier says, “Next guest”? In department stores and coffeeshops, does the term “guest” suggest real...
Why do we call our biceps guns? The slang lexicographer Jonathon Green suggests that the metaphor first pops up in baseball around the 1920s, when players referred to their throwing arms as guns. Believe it or not, the early baseball pitchers...
cathedral thinking n.— «Rogers described how he has embraced something called “cathedral thinking” and he was calling on the valley to join him. I cringed at first mention of the term, worried that he was going to digress into...