Sneaky contract lingo, advice for writing well, and preserving a dying language. Say you’re scrolling through an online transaction where you’re asked to read the “Terms and Conditions.” Do you actually read them or just check the...
Apple core, Baltimore! Who’s your friend? is a playground-style apple-core tossing chant, which Travis in Madison, Wisconsin, heard from his father well into adulthood. In one version, the apple eater calls out the rhyme, waits for someone to name a...
There’s an old joke running around that goes as follows, “Lost: Bald, one-eyed ginger Tom, crippled in both back legs, recently castrated, answers to the name of ‘Lucky.'” Nigel Rees of The Quote Unquote Newsletter has been...
Barack Obama wants to put people to work building roads and bridges. But how about a federal jobs program for out-of-work writers? Also: why do we call it a flight of wine? How did the haircut called a mullet get its name?
President Barack Obama hopes to boost the economy by pouring federal dollars into efforts to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, much like the old Works Progress Administration of the 1930s. But how about reviving that other jobs program from...
take a walk v. phr.— «These scores include votes cast and non-votes by members present at the time the vote was cast. This practice, known as “taking a walk” is a ploy some lawmakers use to avoid a recorded vote while actually...