naco adj.— «Middle-class Mexicans, she said, tend to use a single adjective to dismiss all that is perhaps most real and most wonderful about Mexican culture, simply because it is dark-complexioned and simply because it springs from the poor. The...
Portunol n.— «In Portuguese Africa, I find I can muddle along by speaking something that might be referred to as portunol—basically Spanish, with as many Portuguese words, word-endings and inflections as I can muster.» —“In Mozambique Bilingualism...
OSO n.— «“Polyamory is never having to say you’ve broken up,’’ said Sally Amsbury of Oakland, whose sex and love life openly includes her husband and two “other significant others,” known in polyamory parlance as “OSOs.”» —“Committed to marriage...
watermelon n.— «Major Robert D’Aubuisson, leader of the ultra right Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), likes to compare the Christian Democrats to a watermelon. “Green (the Christian Democrats’ official color) on the outside,” he says, “and...