Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, John Donne’s love poems are among the greatest in the English language, even as they’re famously...
Sarah in San Antonio, Texas, says that when she goes to a restaurant and orders iced tea, the server usually asks, “Sweet or unsweet?” That doesn’t sound right to her. How do you unsweeten tea? Doesn’t the un- imply a...
Gerrymandering draws political boundaries to tip elections towards certain political parties. Originally, the word was pronounced “GARY-mandering” with a hard “g.” But why? And why did it change? • Mark Twain and Helen Keller...
A listener in New York City wonders about how to pronounce gerrymander, which means “to redraw the lines of an electoral district so as to favor a particular political party.” The term comes a joking reference to Massachusetts governor...
lecherscope n.— «The absence of women was a severe trial, and several home-made telescopes—or “lecherscopes,” as they were called—were assembled in the hope that an unflagging surveillance of the windows of the village houses...
absence labeling n.— «Critics of the rule argue what is known as “absence labeling’” has worked great for more than a decade. When a producer states something is rbST-free, they are absence labeling. Monsanto believes absence...