The terms self-licking ice cream cone, self-eating watermelon, and self-licking lollipop all refer to organizations, such as governmental bureaucracies, that appear to exist solely for the sake of perpetuating themselves. This is part of a complete...
A recent study found that some names crop up more frequently than others in certain professions. The name William is especially common among attorneys–and graphic designers include a higher-than-average number of Jessicas. Plus, picturesque...
Is it worth using proper pronunciation if it makes you sound ignorant or misinformed? Contrary to the common understanding, the word forte is actually pronounced “fort.” Grant describes forte as a skunked word; it’s a losing...
meso n.— «At 42, he was dead. The killer: mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos.…Today, a group of people affected by the deadly disease, which they refer to as “meso” for simplicity’s sake, gathered at the Marriott in...
double-high n.— «When there are followers, there must be leaders and this is the second kind of authoritarian personality that has been studied in only recent years. The most extreme of these are what John Dean refers to as double-highs;...
tea sommelier n.— «Tiny finger sandwiches, crumpets, Devonshire cream and delicate tea cups hard figure on my gastronomic landscape. And this place even has a Tea Sommelier (a highfalutin word for tea expert) for heavens sake...
