Word nerd Ammon Shea quit his job as a furniture mover in New York City to spend an entire year reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary. The result, in addition to eyestrain, headaches, and skeptics’ puzzlement, was Shea’s new book...
upslop n.— «Unlike the supercells of the central plains, which are elements in large systems, the upslope supercells near the mountains (in this case, the Rockies) exhibit what appears to be random behavior. Justin: “Some people...
throw a Porsche at someone v. phr.— «An incident like this brings home the sheer scale of military spending. In Afghanistan, where Javelin heat-seeking missiles are sometimes launched against Taliban personnel, our soldiers call it, with...
coop n.— «The troopers man the weigh stations to keep you and the truckers safe. Their job gets even tougher when they’re battling a Web site called Coopsareopen.com. Truck drivers use the term “coops” for weigh stations...
doming n.— «Tidal currents are strong through the Sound, which keeps water temperatures on the cool side. With a primarily south and southwest synoptic (large scale) wind, we experience what the Canadians call “doming,” also...
bigature n.— «There are going to be a mess of miniatures. We coined that phrase “bigatures” on Lord of the Rings and this is going to outdo them all. The miniature we’re doing for Miraz’s castle is 24 scale, village, and...