“My uncle was ad-libbing as a physician.” I talked to this guy, and he clarified that he meant “moonlighting”.
MadMania
Faith, Books, and Stuff
Category: words
“Slumgum in beekeeping is the residue of the beeswax rendering process. When the beeswax from brood comb is rendered to produce clean wax, it leaves behind the pupal lining, wax moth cocoons, excrement from larvae, and other residual debris included in the original material.” from Wikipedia For extra fun, do a Google image search for “slum […]
When I was growing up I remember hearing the term ‘grease zert,’ and I just assumed it was a made-up word. While my dad was skilled at a lot of things (drawing, aviation, mechanics,welding), he was not always known to handle the English language in a manner consistent with the generally agreed upon principles of usage […]
Elsa and I were discussing portmanteaus the other night (the word, not the trunk). Hangry is one of my favorites. But I think this may be one of the finest: Trumpertantrum. I assumed one of the media outlets had coined the phrase, but it turns out to be attributed directly to Ted Cruz (or, perhaps, […]
A British pejorative meaning overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice. The word comes from a childish pronunciation of ‘sweet.’ “Those Beatrix Potter animals are a little twee for my taste.” See more at wiktionary.
fremdschämen (German). “This is what occurs when you are embarrassed for someone who ought to be embarrassed for himself, but isn’t.” From Douglas Wilson, Whose Ox Is Being Sued
“Update: Graham’s spokesperson has clarified to Bloomberg that when Graham said “I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to,” that statement was “not to be taken literally.” Glad that’s been cleared up.” –from Vox.com’s article about Lindsey Graham. They don’t say it, but people who don’t understand what literally […]
“When the surgeon began to manipulate the tumor, affecting those sensitive structures, the (conscious) patient burst into a manic flight of puns.” From a weird article at Wikipedia
The Touch is a Stan Busch song that was included on the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack. As far as 80’s rock songs go, it is 3 minutes of pure distilled 80’s awesomeness that will make you yearn for ye olden dayes of yore when Transformers and G. I. Joe were cool the first time. However, the song might have […]
“The name boobam was coined in Mill Valley, California in 1954 and was described as “bamboo spelled sideways”.” –from the Wikipedia article on the awesomely named instrument. Update: I was reviewing my blog posts and figured I ought to clarify the pronunciation of this instrument. It should be pronounced like too separate words, with the […]