In the Army, a battle buddy is someone assigned to be your constant companion, and it’s often shortened to just “battle.” Other words, like Upstate and cell, as in a mobile phone, have dropped the nouns they modified. This is part of a complete...
If your iPhone’s Siri thinks that two meetings in one day is not bad, does that make her an optimist? Since when did cellphones start making value judgments? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Optimistic Technology” Grant, you...
Predictive text on cellphones can result in some amusing accidental substitutions. The word for that: textonym. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Textonym” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, how are you? Doing well. Who’s this...
What’s the word for the gesture you make with your fingers when you want to make an image larger on an iPhone? Unpinch? Fwoop? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Unpinch” Hi, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Barbara from Dallas...
twiller n.— «Recently, a handful of creators (present company included) have scrapped pen and paper for mobile phone and keypad, and started texting their novels—in real time, just a few characters at a time. Our medium is Twitter, a service that...
analog sunset n.— «Today is the day the federal government says cell phone companies can stop providing service to analog cellular users. It’s all part of the plan to improve coverage and service options through digital signals.…The industry calls...