Howdy, pilgrims! This week in the A Way with Words podcast, discover the joys (and temptations!) of two new books of collected wisdom: "The Yale Book of Quotations" edited by Fred Shapiro, and James Geary's "Guide to the...
pian-a-thon n.—Gloss: a marathon session of piano-playing, usually as a celebration or fund-raiser. «Enthused by the Department of Music’s recent purchase of 32 Steinway pianos and its designation as an all-Steinway school, they’ll perform for 32...
tampon rock n.— «The other day I came across one of the most descriptive and appropriate genre titles. The lead singer of Dragonette called her previous work “Tampon Rock.” This genre is girls or women with guitars or a piano, singing poetically...
bombsighting n.— «The machines, which are roughly the size of an upright piano and usually sell for between $50,000 and $80,000, pump “microdots” of molten solder through a nozzle onto the precise spot where component parts are to be attached to...
put a nickel in someone v. phr.— «It came from the days of the Nickelodeon (very early 20th century) and was retailed to me by my grandmama. People would pop a nickle into the Nickelodeon (player piano) and a frantically energetic and chipper song...
generation lap n.— «“The market is not about the population ageing but about it bifurcating,” he said. This group is smarter—a key development he dubs the “generation lap” as opposed to the “generation gap.” “The Internet time spent is time taken...