The Italian word ponte means “bridge,” as in the Ponte Vecchio of Florence. In Italian, ponte now also denotes the Monday or Friday added to make for a long weekend. Other languages, such as German and Spanish, also make a similar use of...
A listener remembers her mother used to say, “Your Monday is longer than your Tuesday.” This phrase offered a subtle way to notify someone that her slip was showing. Other expressions convey that warning as well, including “Monday...
nerd bird n.— «The “nerd bird” lives on, after all. A week after American Airlines said it would cease the San Jose-Austin daily service that bore that nickname, Alaska Airlines said Monday it will inaugurate daily service...
four-spotting n.— «Like most professional golfers, Lowery has suffered through his own trail of lament.…There was losing his TOUR card and the two years of surviving the vagaries of Monday qualifying, “four-spotting” as...
ski cutting n.— «On Monday, the injured man and a partner were doing what is called “ski cutting,” which is a daily procedure at the resort. Cutting first involves the ski patrol testing the slope to check avalanche...
misery memoir n.— «Last monday, the mother of Constance Briscoe lost the libel action she had brought against her daughter for the publication of Ugly, Briscoe’s memoir of her upbringing of neglect and abuse. The case was both astonishing...

