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Currently viewing the tag: "the Oxford English Dictionary"

Open Sesame!

Posted by Grant Barrett on June 7, 2012 · Add Comment

Queridos amigos, we have two brand-new episodes to share! On the air this past weekend we debated, among many other things, whether there was a difference in meaning between gray and grey. Martha insists that there is and she’s not the only one. Grant, on the other hand, agrees with this curious note from the [...]

mouse-hole

Posted by Grant Barrett on July 23, 2007 · Add Comment

mouse-hole v. to tunnel by destroying shared internal walls between rooms or buildings. Editorial Note: The Oxford English Dictionary has a more general definition, “to make a narrow passage or a tunnel.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

skeempers

Posted by Grant Barrett on August 14, 2004 · Add Comment

skeempers n.— «My father had a favorite term he used to describe anything that pinched or clasped. Consequently, the kitchen tongs and the snaps on my pajamas came to be called skeempers. The Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam Webster, spell-check and Google have never heard of it, but all of his children and grandchildren use it regularly: [...]

handbags at ten paces

Posted by Grant Barrett on June 28, 2004 · Add Comment

handbags at ten paces n. a verbal spat, usually between athletes on the field of play. Editorial Note: Probably related to any number of Monty Python sketches which have the actors dressed in drag, battling each other with handbags, such as in Series 1, Episode 11, “Battle of Pearl Harbor.” The Oxford English Dictionary has [...]

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Open Sesame!

mouse-hole

skeempers

handbags at ten paces