A longboarder reports she and her fellow surfers refer to young surfers as groms or grommets—not to be confused, of course, with hodads and kooks. But where’d that surfing lingo come from? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
beautiful vault n.— «Slot machines are sometimes called “beautiful vaults” in the industry because they bring in nearly three-quarters of the roughly $60 billion in gambling revenue that American casinos generate.» —“Slot Machines...
speed candidating n.— «They’re likely to dig into a P-Patch for a few hours on a weekend or help restore habitats or participate in “speed candidating” to grill incumbents and virgin politicos.» —“Young pros find abundant...
skulling n.—Gloss: Wiktionary defines this as “the act of aging a young bird by measuring the degree of ossification of its skull.” «The age of the birds can be determined by examining the feathers (color and shape), eye...
latte liberal n.— «Mr. Rush’s district, the state’s most Democratic, was 65 percent black. And in 1999, it included not only Hyde Park, home of the University of Chicago, but several relatively affluent Irish-American neighborhoods. There...
yawn n.— «Now a new generation of the seriously rich has emerged, but with a difference: the ostentation has gone. The new breed is self-made, socially aware, concerned about the planet and gives a lot of money to charity. They are the...

