Jeff in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is looking for a specific word for “exhaustion after extreme physical activity, such as running a marathon.” Synonyms for exhausted include knackered and forswunk, from swink, meaning “to toil” or “to work hard.” In extreme sports, people use the term bonking to mean “being depleted,” or metaphorically hitting the wall. There’s also dog-tired, plum tired, running on fumes, and out of gas. In French, the expression coup de pompe is aviators’ slang for “the sudden drop passengers feel during turbulence” and can refer to such sudden depletion. This is part of a complete episode.
Knitters are creating temperature blankets, also known as weather blankets, by assigning colors to daily temperatures and stitching them into finished pieces. Makers involved in The Tempestry Project extend the practice by representing the weather...
Nikki in Charlotte, North Carolina, shares the story of a man who casually told passersby You dropped your pocket, prompting them to check for something that wasn’t there in the first place. That silly saying reminds her of playing pool and trying...
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A friend of mine, now deceased, who suffered greatly from some kind of mental disturbances, often said that she was out of brain energy.