Why are those tiny, white flowers that grace bouquets called baby’s breath? Some people say they like newborn’s breath, but the name may simply reflect the fact that these blossoms are small and delicate. Their genus name, Gypsophila...
“You’d better behave, or I’ll knock you from an amazing grace to a floating opportunity!” This African-American saying, used as a motherly warning, first popped up in the 1930 play Mule Bone by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale...
Ever notice how you can sing the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” to the theme from “Gilligan’s Island”—or for that matter, to “The House of the Rising Sun”? Turns out there are many more examples of this. Is there...
kiting n.— «To avoid prosecution from registered brand owners, some of these online pharmacies are using a practice called “kiting.” Kiting is when a company registers and uses a domain for the ICANN-allowed grace period of...
greenhouse n.— «Fluted chrome trims both the top of the upright grille as well as the boot plinth (trailing edge of the decklid for those who aren’t conversant in British auto lingo). More delicate brightwork surrounds the greenhouse and...
synchro n.— «Synchro, as it is called by aficionados, is also growing internationally; next year in Turin, Italy, it will be an Olympic demonstration sport for the second time. Like its waterbound cousin, synchronized swimming, synchro on...