appeteaser
n.— «Other “appeteasers,” as they call them, include the addictive sweet-potato fries with applesauce, dense corn and black-eyed pea fritters with green chili cheese dip, and crunchy, fluffy hush puppies.» —“When times are hard, Southern cooking helps” by Audrey Van Buskirk Portland Tribune (Ore.) Sept. 23, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re holding an old-fashioned candlestick...
Lydia in Portland, Maine, was texting someone about having seen an opossum, but wasn’t quite sure how to write that out with the article. Is it a or an opposum? Like most Americans, she drops the initial unstressed syllable, making it sound like...