Let them eat…
Mary Anne was talking about eating cake the night before surgery. I noted that cake is the best medicine. Which led me to think there could be a whole series...
History of the phrase “people of color”
Just encountered the phrase “men of color” in an 1857 article about the Dred Scott case from the Albany, NY Evening Journal. I could have sworn that there was a...
budgie smugglers
Liz A, who is Australian, referred yesterday to Australian politician Tony Abbott and his “budgie smugglers.” When I asked what that meant, she explained that it's Australian slang for tight...
old win
Just encountered an amusing typo in a news article: “old win in new bottles.” I suppose the opposite of that is old fail in new bottles....
Peeve: “it does exactly what the name says”
I keep seeing articles and blog entries that introduce a term or the name of a company or service or product, and then they say that the thing named “does...
bondoon
I was reading Suzanne Brockmann's novel The Defiant Hero, and I came across this phrase: as they crossed the roof on their bondoons. I had no idea what bondoons were....
Fear no noxious
The other day, Kam and I watched the Lost (season 2) episode titled “The 23rd Psalm.” And she joked, “The 23rd Psalm—isn't that ‘I must not fear; fear is the...
iMate
Was listening to NPR this evening on my way home from work, and I could have sworn the announcer said that the program was sponsored by iMate: giving you your...
Hammerstein
Was listening to the radio earlier (KALW, the Bay Area's lesser-known NPR station); there was a show about 20th-century American music, and tonight's episode covered Oscar Hammerstein. So they played...
Texas city
Eyebrow-raising headline: BP plans to sell Texas city, California plants I knew BP was powerful, but do they really own an entire city in Texas? The first line of the...