The highly specialized vocabulary of people who work outdoors, communicating with sled dogs, a word from the sport of rock-climbing, church key, browse line, smeuse, nitnoy, mommick, zawn, zwer, boom dog, and I think my pig is whistling. This...
A trucker in Glasgow, Kentucky, wonders about the term boom dog, a device used to secure things on a trailer. The boom may be inspired by a ship’s boom. The word dog has long been used in a variety of ways to refer to something that holds...
Everyone knows you don’t start a sentence with but. But why? Also, how voice recognition technology is changing the way we think and write and what English sounds like to foreigners. Plus, where cockamamie comes from, oddly translated movie...
coolio n.— «What the trucker cap and wallet chain were to hipsters of a moment ago, the Kramden is to what my colleague Mike Albo refers to as the “coolios” of now. Leading with a belly is a male privilege of long standing, of course, a...
chain up v. phr.— «During snowstorms in Portland, Ore., before Christmas, Kelley had to chain up, or “hang iron” as he calls it. “It takes two hours to hang my iron.”» —“Road closures make a costly wait for...
coop n.— «The troopers man the weigh stations to keep you and the truckers safe. Their job gets even tougher when they’re battling a Web site called Coopsareopen.com. Truck drivers use the term “coops” for weigh stations...