A listener in Brazil challenges Martha’s pronunciation of the odd English word antipodes. Their email exchange leads Martha to muse about a favorite collection of poems, where she first encountered this word.
black swan event n.— «On Black Monday, October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones index, for reasons still being debated, fell 508 points, almost a quarter of its total. (The current equivalent, for comparison’s sake, would be a 3,200-point loss on one day.)...
fib n.— «Why just haiku? I wanted something that required more precision. That led me to a six line, 20 syllable poem with a syllable count by line of 1/1/2/3/5/8—the classic Fibonacci sequence. In short, start with 0 and 1, add them together to...
chinegro n.— «Her performance is the catalyst for one of the many show-stopping scenes in Domino when she waxes poetic about mixed race vernacular such as “blactino” and “chinegro” on the “Jerry Springer Show.”» —“When Donnatella Met the Last...
blactino n.— «Her performance is the catalyst for one of the many show-stopping scenes in Domino when she waxes poetic about mixed race vernacular such as “blactino” and “chinegro” on the “Jerry Springer Show.”» —“When Donnatella Met the Last...
floacist n.— «The set boasts what Marsha Ambrosia, right, describes as “poetic delivery with musical intent.” Natalie Stewart adds, “[Our material is] like poetry, but it’s like you’re flowing. My flow goes with Marsha’s singing to stress the...