Sean in Asheville, North Carolina, wonders how to pronounce the nearby town of Leicester. Say it the way the locals do. It’s part of a family of British place names affected by vowel reduction and haplology, the omission of a sound or syllable that...
A listener in Williamsburg, Virginia, wants to know the correct pronunciation of the condiment known as Worcestershire sauce. The proper pronunciation involves what linguists call haplology, the loss of a syllable next to a similar-sounding one...
meat diaper n.— «For instance, a peptide-dye conjugate sandwiched between two membranes could be placed in diapers on which chicken, pork or meat rest in packages. The biosensor would offer consumers an easy-to-comprehend visual signal for...
course rat n.— «“He’s what I call a course rat,” Robichaud said. “All my juniors are. They’re always at the course, always playing. A lot of times they’d go from a match at Monoosnock and they’d get in their cars and hit a bucket of balls at...
spray and pray v. phr.— «A clerk at the Outdoorsman, Route 12, in West Boylston, said the gun has an effective range of only about 40 yards. “It’s basically spray and pray that you hit something,” he said. “I see no use for them really.”» —“Assault...
circuit-breaker law n.— «The circuit-breaker law calls for 75 percent state reimbursement of the amount of money it costs to educate a student minus the $29,320. For example, subtracting the $29,320 from a total cost of $100,000 means the town...
