desire line n.— «Note long ago, a friend told me about an intriguing concept called “desire lines.” It seems that when landscape architects lay out walking paths and trails in parks and other public spaces, they invariably find that people soon...
Hello, guys and dolls--it's another newsletter from A Way with Words. We aired an episode this past weekend in which we talked about the footwear known as "go-aheads," what part of the body is "possible," aptronyms (when a...
There’s the late CNN broadcaster William Headline, the preacher named James God, and the physician named Dr. Hurt. Names like these that match the person’s profession are called aptronyms or aptonyms. We talk about the man who coined the term...
suicide headache n.— «Cluster headache (CH) remains an enigma to the medical profession.…Many chronic CH sufferers eventually take their own lives—earning CH the gruesome moniker “suicide headaches.”» —“LSD cured my headache” by Arran...
suitcase provider n.— «The vast majority of these are very small—in many cases, one-person enterprises or, in the vernacular, “suitcase providers.”…The traditional view is that a “suitcase provider” is a bad thing because it implies someone who is...
juicing the hard way n.— «Before, a wrestler used to “blade”—have a little razor blade attached to a finger and that’s how they would cut their forehead. Now, they do what’s called “juicing the hard way.” When the guy hits you with the chair, he’s...