Doug in Madison, Wisconsin, remembers that when he was growing up in Philadelphia, his dad used the phrase the big mahoff to refer to someone important. This term that means “the big boss” or “the big cheese,” is largely localized to Philadelphia...
This week, we’re going through the e-mail bag. Here’s a savory, sensuous one. It’s from Stacey in Boulder, Colorado.
pull leather v. phr.— «But Molinas was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1975, three months after I had lunch with him at the Playboy Club. As they say in Texas, Molinas “pulled leather on the mob” in Vegas by refusing to pay his gambling debts...
tumblelog n.— «Blogging has mutated into simpler forms (specifically, link- and mob- and aud- and vid- variant), but I don’t think I’ve seen a blog like Chris Neukirchen’s Anarchaia, which fudges together a bunch of disparate forms of citation...
chimping v.— «I saw a reference to “chimping” in regards to [sports] photography and how a digital camera with an LCD screen can make it easier, probably for instant review. My guess is it refers to holding your camera over your head and shooting...
statie n.— «“The Departed” tells of two Irish-American men, each behind enemy lines in the war between Boston police and the underworld. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a troubled state police cadet (a “Statie” in Boston parlance) with family...