If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric.” And: What’s your relationship with the books on your...
Victoria from Tallahassee, Florida, weighs in on our discussion about terms for an extremely quick bath. When Victoria was young, her great-great grandmother from Poland, when checking if Victoria had indeed washed herself, would ask...
ununbium n.— «The ubiquitous periodic table will soon have a new addition—the “super-heavy” element 112. […] IUPAC temporarily named the element ununbium, as “ununbi” is derived from the figures “one...
wife beater n.—Gloss: in the United Kingdom, a strong alcoholic drink, so-called because it may encourage fighting. Often specifically applied to the beer brand Stella Artois. Note: This is obviously a different use of the term than the one...
car clout n.— «UC Berkeley police have issued a car clout alert. Car clouters—burglars who rob cars—have been busily at work on campus over the past month, reports campus Police Chief Victoria Harrison. Between Feb. 21 and March 21...
wooly booger n.— «“Paul is kind of a bull moose type,” says a former associate who asked not to be named. “He doesn’t learn,” says Mr. Moss, who refers to his former boss as “a big old wooly booger...