brass-plate bank n.— «He was first investigated 20 years ago when he became a subject of a joint Scotland Yard-FBI investigation into so-called “brass-plate” banks on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. The investigation was set up after...
A biology student at Stanford University has a question that’s surely on the minds of many listeners: Is there’s an official term for “baby platypus”? He’s heard the term puggle used to denote these cute little...
ambulance chasing n.— «In 1977, Steven Weinberg, then two years shy of the Nobel Prize in Physics, decided to do a little of what some theorists call “ambulance chasing.” He heard a rumor, while spending a year at Stanford, that...
Broken Pipe n.— «It would be foolish to think that Browne transformed BP from a dirty oil company to a progressive, renewable, squeaky-clean energy source. On the contrary, BP has a dismal environmental record—critics jokingly refer to...
heart-attack team attrib.— «Louisville continues as this year’s heart-attack team. The Cardinals nosed out Drake, 55-53, in overtime Saturday on two free throws by Wesley Cox. It was the undefeated Cardinals’ second overtime, and third...
snow roller n.— «Stanford found frozen doughnuts of snow on the top of Washington Pass in the North Cascades this week when he was doing avalanche-control work. At first he couldn’t believe his eyes: Perfectly shaped doughnuts had rolled...