swish and spit n.— «It requires transoceanic vessels to dump ballast water at least 200 miles from shore. Those carrying no ballast must rinse their tanks with salt water, a process known as “swish and spit,” to kill organisms lurking in...
That stuff under your bed—what do you call it? Dust bunnies? House moss? Beggar’s velvet? Ghost turds? Those fluffy little puffballs go by lots of different names. But a caller is perplexed by his mother’s term for those ever-multiplying...
cat-claw n.— «Part of our loot included a a short wrecking bar known to carpenters as a cat-claw. It’s pretty rusted after lying out in the weather all those months.» —“Curious trash along the highway” by Carl...
biobigotry n.— «Biobigotry is different from the impulse to avoid organisms that can hurt or sicken us, like yellow jackets, mosquitoes or poison ivy, or to fend off traditional household pests like mice and roaches. Rather, it is the...
A caller from Maine says she was taught to say “bunny, bunny” at the first of each month for good luck. Then she met someone who says “rabbit, rabbit” for the same reason. What’s the superstition behind these...
wildtype n.— «“Our laboratory testing of the vCT using the BD ProbeTec System revealed that the vCT was as easily detected as the ’wildtype’ CT.” “Wildtype” is the term for the common circulating strain of an...