Why do we say we are going to nuke some food when we’re simply heating it in the microwave? The earliest recorded instance of nuking food in this way comes from a 1982 article in the University of North Carolina student newspaper. It’s...
Sandee from New York City thought that she was the only person who had misunderstood a line from the song “Ladies Who Lunch” from the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, memorably performed on Broadway by Elaine Stritch. Years later...
reverse racial pass n.— «These scenarios all involve what is sometimes termed the “reverse racial pass,” which Philip Brian Harper has defined as “any instance in which a person legally recognized as white effectively...
misprison n.— Note: Same as misprision. «Technically, the legal question in this instance involves what the law calls “misprison of a felony,” which sets a legal standard that Obama’s “sin of omission” does not...
knol n.— «Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol,” which stands for a unit of knowledge.…At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the...
o-beer-time n.— Note: Seems to be similar to “beer o’clock” and “beer thirty,” which also mean “an instance of, or an occasion suitable for, drinking.” «It was already understood that the crowd in...