The word decimate has a grisly etymology. It derives from a Latin military term meaning “to execute every tenth man in an army unit”— the penalty for a failed mutiny. As a result, some sticklers insist that the English word decimate...
mini-Madoff n.— «Their names lack the Dickensian flair of Bernie Madoff, and the money they apparently stole from investors was a small fraction of the $50 billion that Mr. Madoff allegedly lost of his clients’ savings. But the number of...
off-air reporter n.— «Mr. Conroy, whose job title is “off-air reporter,” (because he does not normally appear on television) is one of many young journalists hired by the networks to follow the candidates across the country, filing video...
PILOT n.— «The companies—including behemoths like JPMorgan Chase, Pfizer and NBC—have paid a fraction of their normal property tax bill for years through these little-known deals, commonly called PILOTs (Payments in Lieu of Taxes)...
wikigroaning n.— «First, find a useful Wikipedia article that normal people might read. For example, the article called “Knight.” Then, find a somehow similar article that is longer, but at the same time, useless to a very...
Try Me virus n.— «I suspect Second Life is largely a “Try Me” virus, where reports of a strange and wonderful new thing draw the masses to log in and try it, but whose ability to retain anything but a fraction of those users...