In this week’s slang quiz, a member of the National Puzzlers’ League from Somerville, Massachusetts, tries to guess the meaning of bottle room and shred, the latter as used in the context of snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing. This...
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...
Our hosts bandy about some more political slang terms and explain their meaning and origin. Or did you already know the difference between a moonbat and a wingnut? This is part of a complete episode.
comfort capsule n.— «The paper reported that at least four ranking generals have been deeply involved in designing airborne “comfort capsules.” These two-room luxury pods, with all the amenities of sports arena skyboxes, would be inserted...
city-it n.— «Some local surfers complained last week that publicity for the new surfing beach would attract a large influx of city-its (rhymes with idiots), a local term for neophyte surfers from Manhattan.» —“Sand, Surf, and...
scramble v.— «“It’s been a long week,” Delio said. “I played well. When my approach shots weren’t hit that well, I saved myself by scrambling. If I teed a green, I was pretty solid all week.” Scrambling in golf is a term...