Since the early 19th century, to soft-soap someone is to flatter them or give them excessively deferential treatment. The idea is that soft soap is unctuous and if you pour soft soap down someone’s back or pour soft soap into someone’s ear, it’s...
How did serialized melodramas come to be called soap operas? The answer has to do with the suds-selling sponsors of old-time radio shows. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Soap Operas” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi. Hi, who’s...
slabbing n.— «Dry cleaning used to be a skill. It worked because it allowed you to suspend 30 per cent of water inside a solvent “jacket” using an emulsifier called a “soap.” This technique, called “slabbing down,” has now been banned on health and...
docu-soap n.— «Beers, who often narrates his own shows, has found a winning formula for his “docu-soaps,” as he calls them. His series typically profile men with blue-collar jobs, such as crab fishermen, truckers, Texas oil wildcatters and...
pro kit n.— «Venereal disease was a major, major thing. In fact, when our men went out on a pass, into town for the night, they had to demonstrate to us two things: That they had a condom and that they had a prophylactic kit, a little tube of soap...
soaping n.— «The guys stroll the streets in their Soap shoes, a brand of shoe that allows them to grind their way in a practice known as aggressive walking, or soaping. Their sneakers may not look different from anyone else’s, but their Soap shoes...