The English language has a variety of expressions referring to the excretion of moisture from the skin due to heat. There’s the verb perspire and the Yiddish borrowing schvitz. If you perspire profusely, you may sweat buckets, or be sweating like a...
Gerrymandering draws political boundaries to tip elections towards certain political parties. Originally, the word was pronounced “GARY-mandering” with a hard “g.” But why? And why did it change? • Mark Twain and Helen Keller...
Someone who’s anxious about performing may break out in a flop sweat. The term comes from the theatre slang, where worries that one’s production is a flop may cause nervous perspiration. In the 1987 film Broadcast News, Albert...
sweating n.— «Alternative fuels, which tend to be expensive, can be suppressed by OPEC and other nations through a process known as “sweating”—dropping their oil prices for a sufficient length of time to make competitive...
fartichoke n.— «I love the nutty, earthy flavour of jerusalem artichokes, but there is a reason they are often called fartichokes. A tip from an Indian friend is a trick worth knowing—adding a pinch of asafoetida, or hing, to the...
lyte n.— «Multiple blistering days, almost sure to return to the Rogue Valley if historical patterns hold, bring plenty of people in to buy electrolyte replacement drinks, such as ReCharge, says Newfield. These are compounds of sodium...
