through-line
n.—Gloss: an acting method of imagining a character’s continuous motivational path. «Actresses are constantly constructing new characters, and when they’re not in costume on a set or a stage, they’re typically in jeans or something nondescript. In going from role to role, she said, “It’s easy to lose your personal through-line.”» —“An Eliza Doolittle Onstage as Well as on the Red Carpet” by Cathy Horyn New York Times Oct. 25, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Kim from Council Bluffs, Iowa, notes that kırmızı, the Turkish word for “red,” sounds a lot like the English word crimson. Are they related? Yes! Both derive from a word for the insect whose scientific name is Kermes vermilio. The English words...
Why do we speak of the red, white, and blue when discussing the American flag? Why not blue, white, and red or white, red, and blue? A couple of reasons: The color order lodged in the language thanks in part to the patriotic song from the 1840s...