Animals leave their footprints in several English words, including chatoyant, or “shimmering like a cat’s eyes” and sleuth, which is short for sleuth-hound, a kind of bloodhound used for sniffing out prey. Pets have also inspired...
Is a purple squirrel a) a diving board trick, b) a cocktail, or c) a rare job candidate with all the right qualifications? The answer is c. There have, however, been reports of purple squirrels of the sciurine variety. This is part of a complete...
What’s for dinner? How about wind pudding, air sauce, and a side of balloon trimmings? This colorful euphemism for “nothing” dates as far back as the American Civil War, when troops would come into the mess tent, see a wild...
tugboat n.— «The term for an attractive specimen of the female species is “skins.”…The only term worse (in terms of attractiveness) than “skins busters” is the frankly magnificent “tugboat...
stand-up historian n.— «The Great Squirrel Stampede of 1826 is one of David Heighway’s favorite tales. Caused by an overpopulation of squirrels that lost their food supply for natural reasons across the Midwest, it’s on the local...
squirrel-gripping n.— «Unfortunately none of the reports I’ve seen have explained the chair-sniffing incident, which just has to have a story behind it. Buswell has, however, been accused of grabbing the testicles of MP Murray Cowper...