When Megan in San Diego heard her father say he had to park way out in the back forty, he was using a farm expression for land far from the house, road, or main lot. The Dictionary of American Regional English gives back forty as a remote, large...
Many of the world’s languages apparently derived from a prehistoric common ancestor known as Indo-European. But since no one ever wrote down a word of it, how do we know what it was like?
top surgery n.— «He was in the process of legally changing his name to a male name, although he couldn’t decide whether to go casual (Rey) or Old Testament (Asher). And in December Rey underwent what he called “chest reconstruction...
black-brown divide n.— «Simmering beneath the surface of activism for job creation and workers’ rights is a tension not unique to New Orleans, what labor activists refer to as the “black-brown divide.” In this case, black New Orleanians...
revirgination n.— «As many as 30,000 women are said to opt for vaginal reconstruction yearly. The procedure, also known as “revirgination,” is being hawked in magazines, the Internet or on radio stations as a way for women to...
stigmergy n.— «La coordination des tâches, la régulation des constructions ne dépendent pas directement des ouvriers, mais des constructions elles-mêmes. L’ouvrier ne dirige pas son travail, il est guidé par lui...