An Alabama man wonders about the verb to pooh-pooh, meaning to disdain or disapprove. It has nothing to do with the similar-sounding word for excrement, but rather the noise one makes when being dismissive. It started as simply pooh in the 1500s...
How’d we get the term colorblind, and when it did come to be mean “indifferent to race”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of Colorblind” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, how are you? Super duper, who’s this? This is...
molecular condom n.— «For a decade now, scientists have been working to develop an HIV-blocking vaginal gel, a microbicide often called a molecular condom.» —“Better than a Condom?” by Jeneen Interlandi Newsweek Aug. 11, 2009. (source: Double...
have fingertips
v. phr.— «He had no fingertips as a politician and came off as a phony, even when he was perfectly sincere.» —“Back From the Dead” by Evan Thomas Newsweek Nov. 17, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
center of gravity n.— «The bread basket, an area of 45 square miles in northeastern Iraq, had been one of Al Qaeda in Iraq’s few remaining “centers of gravity,” as U.S. military commanders termed it—a place the group had fled to once it was forced...
post-kinetic environment n.— «Crocker’s performance was memorable for another show-stopping war euphemism, when he referred to bombed-out Iraqi towns as “post-kinetic environments.”» —“The Iraq War’s Go-To Cliché” by Weston Kosova Newsweek Sept...