A man who owns a parrot says that when people see his bird, they invariably ask the question “Polly wanna cracker?” He wonders about the origin of that psittacine phrase, meaning parrot-like. One of the earliest uses of the phrase so far...
sidezoomer n.— «Sidezoomers have a variety of strategies, each exaggerated by the configuration of the Caldecott but replicated in bottlenecks across the land: there are the ones who zoom by a few dozen cars, angling in when they see a...
synthistrator
n.— «Synthistrator. An orchestrator who creates a synthesized mock-up recording.» —“SMPTE what?” by D.R. Stewart Variety July 10, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
You’ve just read a terrific paperback novel. Would you feel any differently about it if you’d the same words on the glowing screen of an electronic book? Martha and Grant discuss the social and psychological implications of books that...
ankling n.— «Jon Goldman, who has headed the Irvine-based company since The Collective and Backbone Entertainment merged almost three years ago, is “ankling,” as we say in Variety parlance. That means he’s not quitting in the...
old settler n.— «Opening tonight in Warner Robins is “The Old Settler,” a love story set in Harlem in the 1940s. “Old Settler” is said to be a pejorative term for an aging unmarried woman.» —“Midstate’s...