Hello, you have A Way with Words! This past weekend's show covered a lot of ground, including new political language like "glass pockets" and "horseracism," and whether there is a relationship between "caucus" and...
rubber room n.— «Reluctant to mess with the Speaker’s monument without strong backup, the G.S.A. boss, Gerald Carmen, asked for a report from his Office of Oversight, which is headed by William Clinkscales, who gained fame during the...
run the traps v. phr.— «I ran the traps around the lexical trade, even asked my brother, who assured me it wasn’t Robert Louis Stevenson.» —“Right Stuff In The Bully Pulpit” by William Safire New York Times Mag...
run the traps v. phr.— «A related metaphor is run the traps. A hunter will check his traps in the morning to see what animals were caught; a reporter will “run the traps” of his sources to check out a story.» —by William...
yumptious adj.— «This scholarly, no-frills econiche for neologisms makes yumptious reading from here to Bosnywash.» —“On Language: Living In Synonymy” by William Safire New York Times Magazine Sept. 21, 1980...
nuclear option n. especially in politics, an action of last resort; in recent years in the U.S., an extreme method of overcoming a filibuster related to the confirmation of judicial nominees. Editorial Note: This term was not coined by U.S. Senator...