The cut-and-paste feature in word-processing programs makes it easy to rearrange text. But in the past, some writers literally cut and pinned their copy. At the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, you can see the pins Jane Austenused to...
Rolling in the deep in Adele’s song builds on the slang expression roll deep, meaning to have loyal friends around you, people who have your back. In a Rolling Stone interview from February 2011, Adele traced the phrase to British slang, and the...
butterfly gate n.— «The insert was among several in the Nov. 15 issue, celebrating the magazine’s 40th anniversary. All the inserts were what the industry calls butterfly gates—ad pages on the outside, which unfold to reveal pages of...
sailboat fuel n.— «In perhaps the ultimate example of military capitalism, KBR reportedly ran convoys of empty trucks back and forth across the insurgent-laden desert, pointlessly risking the lives of soldiers and drivers so the company...
mocketing n.— «The “Cheat Death” ad in Rolling Stone last year began with “Dying is so dead” and went on to assert that the stuff “can help prevent premature aging, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, even...