She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...
Malamute, kayak, and parka are just some of the words that have found their way into English from the language of indigenous people in northern climes. • In the 1970s, some scientists argued that two quarks should be called truth and beauty. • The...
Many English words have their roots in Greek and Roman myth. Tantalize derives from the story of King Tantalus, condemned to stand forever in a pool that receded whenever he was thirsty, and beneath a bough of fruit that pulled away whenever he...
Pepper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wonders why something valuable to someone is called the apple of their eye. The expression apple of one’s eye dates back to the ninth century. It comes from misunderstanding the pupil of the eye as a sphere and...
red-out n.— «The scope should not be advanced against resistance. “Red-out” is the term used to describe what occurs when the tip of the scope is placed too close to the bowel wall mucosa. In this situation, the reflection of...
flocking n.— «Many Holga owners overcome this by taping up the gaps, or even spraypainting the camera’s shiny interior matt black to minimise internal reflection—a process called “flocking.” Others incorporate the light leaks...