The word silly didn’t always have its modern meaning. In the 1400s, silly meant happy or blessed. Eventually, “silly” came to mean weak or in need of protection. Other seemingly simple words have shifted meanings as the English...
Lock the bad guys up in the hoosegow! This slang term for a jail comes from the Spanish juzgado, meaning tribunal. It’s an etymological relative of the English words judge and judicial. This is part of a complete episode.
alpha gent n.— «“I like to think we’re producing a magazine for the…“ He pauses, and adopts the self-conscious twinkle of a marketing man with a buzz word to unleash: “Alpha Gent!”» —“Men’s Health – Arrival of...
two Cs in a K n.— «If all this sounds like the ad industry is still rooted in a sexist world that the rest of us have left behind, then remember that not that long ago there was a standard adland shorthand for an entire genre of...
tabbing n.— «All of sudden a helicopter rises out of a valley, makes one pass over the landing site, before zeroing in and touching down.…They are returning after a night under the stars, tabbing, as they call it, around a dozen...
face of freedom n.— «Freed from the (slightly tarnished) steel and glass of the financial districts of our cities, beards are on the rise. Gone are the 6am starts, the 7am transatlantic conference calls, the boozy business lunches and the...