Gerald from Gaspee Point, Rhode Island, wants to know the story behind the term dashboard. Originally a dashboard was wood or leather placed at the front in horse-drawn vehicles to keep the driver and passengers from being dashed with mud, water, or...
What do you call a guy with a bald pate? A chrome dome? Maybe the lucky fellow is sporting a solar panel for a sex machine. Also, which would you rather open: a can of worms or Pandora’s box? Plus, ordinary vs. ornery, versing vs. versus...
Why do spelling bees use such strange words — often foreign words that almost nobody uses? Like cymotrichous, stromuhr, Laodicean, guerdon, serrefine, and Ursprache? We answered that question in last week’s episode — it’s what happens...
deather n.—Gloss: A person who believes that one or more of the current health care proposals being discussed in Washington D.C. includes a “death panel” that would allow doctors to counsel patients about ways to end their own...
hip line n.— «The side panel lines just beneath the windows—”hip lines” in auto industry parlance—slant upward. Viewed from the front in conjunction with the triple-lipped face, the look is delightfully menacing, sort of like...
epiphany risk n.— «What is “epiphany risk?” Davos is full of bankers but this term is of recent enough vintage—and its humor black enough—that Howard Davies could get some good laughs when he gave the definition. “The sudden realization...
