A member of the ski patrol at Vermont’s Sugarbush Resort shares some workplace slang. Boilerplate denotes hard-packed snow with a ruffled pattern that makes skis chatter, death cookies are random chunks that could cause an accident, and escargot...
Tenley in Jackson, Wyoming, calls to share the bro-brah slang of fellow skiers there. If a skier or snowboarder is taking on a challenging run, others will cheer them on with Bro, send it! or Sick! You sent that!, and they use the adjective sendy...
It’s time for book recommendations! Martha’s enjoying an armchair tour of important places in the history of our language, and Grant recommends relaxing with books that make great reading for both children and adults. Plus, are you the type of...
Marlene in Indianapolis grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula using pank to mean pat, tamp, or firm something down, from snow on a ski hill to teased hair before a blast of Aqua Net. The verb is especially associated with the Upper Peninsula of...
Skiing is fun until you wipe out, flinging two skis, two poles, and perhaps your lunch, all over the place. They call that a yard sale. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Skiing Yard Sale” We asked you for slang from your pastimes...
backyard syndrome n.— «The early-March snowstorm that creamed the Eastern seaboard largely missed Vermont’s big skiing areas. But resort operators were delighted nevertheless, because the storm whetted the appetite of all those coastal skiers. The...

