The language and melodies of military marching songs connect grown children with their parents who served, as do parents’ love letters from World War II. Plus, “running a sandy” describes an awkward love triangle and Northern Spy...
Would you rather live in a world with no adjectives … or no verbs — and why? Also, who in the world is that director Alan Smithee [SMITH-ee] who made decades’ of crummy films? Turns out that if a movie director has his work wrested away...
A recent call from a video editor looking for a fancy word to refer to extracting video from a computer drew a huge response from listeners trying to help. The suggestions they offered include cull, evict, expunge, expede, disassemble, de-vid, and...
In many neighborhoods, the night before Halloween is the night when pranksters run around wreaking all kinds of mischief–toilet-papering houses, spraying windows with shaving cream, ringing doorbells and then running away. A Connecticut woman...
stained-glass ceiling n. a barrier to the advancement of women within the hierarchy of a church. Etymological Note: This is a specific form of “glass ceiling,” which is the barrier to advancement of women in any profession. A related...
frankenbuild n.— «Microsoft has issued an update to Windows Vista that’s intended to stop a piracy monster. The software maker said Thursday that the update is aimed at thwarting a technique that was letting some people use pirated...