A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So why is it a pejorative term for those of a certain political persuasion? Also, is there something wrong with the phrase committed suicide? Some say that the word commit is a painful reminder...
A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So how did it come to be a pejorative term for those of a particular political persuasion? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Wingnut” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is...
Davos Man n.— «Political scientist Samuel Huntington who coined the pejorative term “Davos Man” (referring to participants who he viewed as having a false sense of their international identity), famously dismissed the conference as a “watering hole...
old settler n.— «Opening tonight in Warner Robins is “The Old Settler,” a love story set in Harlem in the 1940s. “Old Settler” is said to be a pejorative term for an aging unmarried woman.» —“Midstate’s calendar offers variety of cultural...
boaty n.— «Perhaps unsurprisingly, he describes the nation’s welcome of “boat people” in the late 1970s as a positive development. “For a long time it was a pejorative term: ’You’re a boaty, right?'”» —“Those who’ve come across the sea” by Now Kim...
short coat n.— «The structure of medical training in the United States is such that after a book-heavy first two years of medical school, the third- and fourth-year medical students are given their half-length white coats (hence the pejorative term...