Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms — that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette commemorates a penny-pinching treasury secretary who lasted...
In English, we say “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face,” but the Russian equivalent translates as “Don’t freeze off your ears to spite your mama.” This is part of a complete episode.
Bathroom walls, missing graffiti, and social media. Where have all the cute quips on bathroom stalls gone? We wonder about the apparent decline of restroom graffiti. Are people saving their witticisms for Twitter and Facebook? And: If there were a...
The idiom “to cut off your nose to spite your face” has been attributed to a Medieval nun who described women cutting off their noses to look unattractive and thus preserve their chastity. Whether that story is true, cutting off...
plumage paradox n.— «My original instinct to buy the best is what I call the plumage paradox. A peacock’s dilemma is that having a large, beautiful tail attracts females, but it also attracts predators. The message the tail sends to the...
fluking n.— «The whale had a slightly smaller companion, and while both creatures obliged by spouting repeatedly and showing off their smooth grey-blue backs (in spite of their size, blue whales are surprisingly slim and tapered), the...