Mimi in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, wonders about a phrase her grandmother used to express disbelief or indignation: Good grief and little fishes! Far more common is the phrase Ye gods and little fishes! or simply Ye gods! These expressions all serve as...
passablanc adj.—Gloss: in New Orleans, being of mixed race but presenting oneself as a white person. «Ms. Broyard learned the Creole word for the way her father had lived: passablanc. To this day virtually all Creoles are related to or at...
chonga n.— «The magic starts with a heaping glob of electric blue L.A. Looks hair gel. Then comes the extra coating of $1.07 Beauty Glamorous Extra Hold hair spray. So begins the transformation of 17-year-olds Mimi Davila and Laura Di...
Google MD n.— «I was wondering if I could possibly have spontaneous decay in six teeth at once, and Google MD had me convinced that I had jaw cancer like Freud or Grover Cleveland.» —by Mimi Smartypants Mimi...
gotcha day n.— «Last week was our two-year anniversary of what many people call “Gotcha Day” and what I have decided just to call “Adoption Day.”» —“Insects in Winter” by Mimi Smartypants Mimi...
woo-woo adj.— «I am curious how they handle this particular song, since surely our slightly woo-woo preschool, which decorated paper Easter eggs for “spring” while seemingly making an effort not to actually mention Easter...
