Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms — that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette commemorates a penny-pinching treasury secretary who lasted...
Shelby calls from Rockville, Indiana, to ask about the origin of the phrase keep your powder dry. Many people surmise it derives from words uttered by Oliver Cromwell, but there’s no recorded evidence of this. The phrase first pops up in the...
Some call them crash blossoms, those funny turns of phrase that copy editors may or may not intend, like “Milk Drinkers Turn To Powder.” More about crash blossoms in this article in Good by Mark Peters. This is part of a complete episode.
doda n.— «Peel Regional Police would like to warn members of the public that a substance commonly known as “Doda” has been found to contain amounts of illegal opiates.…Doda is described as a greyish powder that is...
dry powder n.—Gloss: Capital readily available for investment. «Capital available for secondary deals—what the industry calls dry powder—is about $12 to $15 billion, said Small, whose company manages some $4.2 billion of secondaries...
soul boarding n.— «Riding the steep aspects and deep powder of the backcountry are what many snowboarders call “soul boarding,” and it is by far the most popular form of the sport.» —“Two snowboarders with Fairbanks ties try to...