de-hyphenate v.— «In the patois of regional politics, the Washington deal “de-hyphenates” India and Pakistan, giving New Delhi a different relationship to Washington—as a power in its own right, not a weight to be balanced...
Mexical adj.— «Ms Lopez, who spends the whole movie speaking some sort of strange Mexical high school patois, plays a temp come dog-walker come caterer’s assistant come unfulfilled fashion designer by the name of Charlie.» —“J-Lo...
rubber-ear n.— «It has called for the first module fee of £600 to be paid for by the taxpayer to raise morale among teaching’s minions but the Executive has rubber-eared (oops, slipped into Glasgow patois) this request. By the looks...
shmoo adj.— «Aidan got many, many DVDs and videogames, all of which were deemed either “Sweet” or “Shmoo” by him. (I’m told “shmoo” is some new word in preteen boy patois, and it is apparently a synonym...
nerd-bomb n.— «Gooner—this wholly untelegenic nerd-bomb who hailed from planet Dateless and spoke a customized Midwestern patois that frequently required its own subtitles…lost and was booted from the island.» —“Idiot Box...
monkey board n.— «She also started to learn the offshore patois used to describe the different parts of the platform: the dog house, the monkey board, the rat hole, the cat walk.» —“Taking oil painting to a whole new...