Right off the bat, you can probably name a long list of common idioms that come from baseball. For example, “right off the bat.” But how about some of the more obscure ones, like the “Linda Ronstadt“? In a nod to Ronstadt’s song “Blue Bayou,” her...
It’s the art of constructive feedback: If you’re a teacher with a mountain of papers to grade, you may find yourself puzzling over which kinds of notes in the margins work best. Martha and Grant discuss strategies for effective paper-grading. And...
In baseball, rhubarb is a dust-up or argument, the sort of on-field flare-up that can get a manager tossed. James in Dallas came across the word in the 1951 movie Rhubarb, based on H. Allen Smith’s book about a cat that inherits a baseball team...
scuffle v.— «We’ll have our hot streaks, then we’ll scuffle along. We could have had a better home stand, but we’ll just have to keep banging away.» —“Club sputters against East Division clubs” Houston Chronicle May 25, 1986. (source: Double...
scuffle v. in baseball, to not play well or to be in a slump. Etymological Note: Probably related to a meaning given by Merriam-Wester as “to struggle (as by working odd jobs) to get by.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
scuffle v.— «Pulsipher is out for the year, Wilson will come off the DL as early as next week and Isringhausen is scuffling for wins.» —“Eyes on Braves, Yankees in second half” by Mel Antonen, Rod Beaton USA Today July 11, 1996. (source: Double...