raisin bomber n.— «On June 26, 1948, in response to the Soviet blockade, C-47s began landing millions of tons of food, coal and other supplies in an operation centered at Tempelhof. At its peak, the airlift landed planes every 90 seconds...
booth turnaround n.— «One of their ideas was a lockdown procedure commonly called “booth turnaround.” In the event of a child going missing, personnel secure the entrance and exit points and do not allow patrons to leave until...
We all misspeak from time to time, but how about when we mangle words on purpose? Do you ever say fambly instead of family, perazackly for exactly, or coinkydink for coincidence? When Grant recently wrote a newspaper column about saying things wrong...
A Wisconsin woman is trying to remember a term for paths in the grass created by pedestrians taking shortcuts. Grant has an answer for her, straight from the jargon of urban planning professionals. The caller also wants recommendations for a good...
Hello, everybody. Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words! This weekend we aired a repeat episode in which we discussed "drive safe" vs. "drive safely," the meaning of "paratereseomaniac," and the expression...
gorgeois adj.— «The message came from a friend on the West Coast: “What’s up, gorgeois?” Confused, we called our friend back, only to learn the word is enjoying a moment in the stylist lexicon. It has even eclipsed genius...