windlip n.—Gloss: a snowdrift created by the wind in a high place. «“In Fairbanks there wasn’t any parks or jumps, so you just learned to hit whatever you had—natural hits, lips, windlips.”…Bell and Hebert link the tricks they...
Death of the Typewriter Ding! In this week’s episode, Mark Twain would be pleased. Reports that it’s the end of the line for the typewriter have been greatly exaggerated. Well, slightly anyway: it’s not the horseless carriage...
A Michigander wants to know about the difference between titled and entitled. She’d assumed that a book is titled Gone with The Wind and a person is entitled to compensation for something. Grant and Martha explain it’s a little more...
small wind n.— «While a county-funded wind-testing project is about to begin, the first three months of data from an unrelated wind project at farms near Deerfield and Blissfield was collected Thursday.…The program is focused on...
flotsamist n.— «Where and when something reaches shore depends mainly on weight, wind, and currents. Experts can study flotsam—driftwood, in particular—that help them understand ocean currents and weather patterns. Nature also provides...
In California, everybody gets a little crazy when those hot, dry winds called Santa Anas start blowing. A caller asks the origin of the name. Is it a translation of Spanish for “Satan’s wind”? By the way, here’s that list of...