The term palaver, meaning an idle or prolonged discussion, comes from the old Portuguese term palavra that British sailors picked up at West African ports in the 1700s, where palaver huts are places where villagers can gather to discuss local...
wags n.pl.— «Pictures of the wives and girlfriends (or Wags as the FA’s acronym calls them) of the Euro 2004 England team, or of the wives and girlfriends of the 1999 US Ryder Cup team, for instance, show a classic feminine look where...
Bugs Bunny changeup n.— «Catcher Jeff Reed calls the superb changeup by Philadelphia’s Mark Portugal a “Bugs Bunny changeup.” Why? “Because it just stops right there,” Reed said.» —“Schilling might have looked...
ou bife n.— «Now his attention and that of his adopted nation turns again to the English, referred to as ou bife, “the beefs” here since the 19th century when the Duke of Wellington helped kick out the French during the...
Portunol n. a mixture of the Spanish and Portuguese languages, usu. spoken. Also Portunhol, Portuñol. Etymological Note: Sp. Portugués or Port. Portuguese + Sp. Español or Port. Espanhol (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
desenrascanço n.— «“Desenrascanço” (you read that ‘the-zen-rascan-so’) is simply a slang word for the slacker art of coming up with some last-minute solution for a problem—and as a rule the solution will end up doing more harm than...