If a baseball is hit really hard, it’s said that the batter powdered it, used to refer to hitting or pitching that’s especially powerful, as if the ball had been fired from a cannon. Similarly, a pitcher with a blistering fastball is said to be...
The Oregon town names Ragic and Ekoms are anadromes; backwards they spell Cigar and Smoke. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Backward Town Names” By the way, grant, speaking of anadromes, those words that form different words if...
Downton Abbey, a program featured on Masterpiece Theater, provided a handful of colorful expressions that date surprisingly far back. “Like it or lump it,” meaning “deal with it,” is found at least as early as 1830 and takes from the old verb lump...
chaveta n.— «Deftly rolling, pressing and slicing tobacco leaves with a slab of sharp metal known as a chaveta, they sculptured perfectly cylindrical cigars—an art that requires years to master.» —“Why the Smoke Doesn’t Get in Their Eyes” by Sophia...
smoke-eater n.— «Nonsmokers also had problems with the specially equipped smoking areas. Depending on the number of smokers concentrated in one area, it was rare that “smoke-eaters” as they were affectionately called, could handle a room full of...
smoke n.— «I think Tree means to tune the gamma match with the variable capacitor for best transmitter output, or “maximum smoke,” as it is sometimes called.» —“The K7RA Solar Update” by Tad Cook ARRL Dec. 1, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued...