dollar-a-year man n.— «Before his death in 1955, the Pictou-born man was one of the country’s top corporate lawyers, known for driving around the streets of Halifax in the city’s first Rolls-Royce limousine. During the Second World War...
It’s the Moby Dick of etymology: Where do we get the phrase “the whole nine yards”? A pediatrician in North Carolina wonders if it derives from a World War II phrase involving “nine yards” of ammunition. Grant and...
Grant recommends two books that are great for giving as gifts. FUBAR: Soldier Sland of World War II by Gordon Rottman looks at the language of soldiers from different armies. Also, Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin by Nicholas Ostler, which looks...