An ornithologist says there’s a growing movement to change the name of a pink-footed bird currently called the flesh-footed shearwater. The movement reflects a growing understanding that using flesh-colored for “pink” fails to...
Kathy in Jacksonville, North Carolina, likes to urge her kids to go outside and play, but is searching for a word or phrase that denotes “the out of doors” without referencing an edifice. Some possibilities: al fresco from Italian, for...
What do you call that force that keeps you lounging on the couch rather than get up the energy to go outdoors? A listener calls it house gravity. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “House Gravity” Mark Hanslick of...
rap v.—Gloss: short for “rappel.” «He kept falling, flailing and failing to make the moves, eventually just hanging on the rope and begging me to lower him down to the last ledge. He was out of steam; we rapped back to the...
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...
nar n.—Gloss: snow. Note: The long form is “nar nar.” «Come winter, when (or if) snow blankets the temperate zone, the Wesleyan Ski Team will hit the slopes to “shred the nar,” as they say in ski jargon.» —“Students take...