Grant explains the meaning of the new slang term “far center,” and Martha tries to revive an antiquated term meaning “a corrupt politician,” snollygoster. This is part of a complete episode.
Dipper n.— «My exquisite pleasure as a Liberal party man who barely knew a Tory or “Dipper” (as we called NDPers) was to work with people from organized labour, Liberals, Conservatives, ad people and NDPers all in a glorious...
Does it bug you when people talk about themselves in the third person? A caller finds herself mightily annoyed by this habit, which she observes especially among politicians and celebrities. There’s a word for the practice of referring to...
lawyertician n.— «A couple I know, working people, were having coffee a while back, and they were reading the paper, and every other story was about some pol stealing or getting himself a fatter pension, and they coined a word to describe...
have fingertips v. phr.— «He had no fingertips as a politician and came off as a phony, even when he was perfectly sincere.» —“Back From the Dead” by Evan Thomas Newsweek Nov. 17, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued...
We hear the word maverick a lot lately, but where did this term for a stubborn nonconformist come from? Martha tells the story of the Texas politician who inspired the word, and whose grandson apparently coined another familiar English word...