Wordwizard

I spat out the spitted kabob. -thank you, Russ Cable Since I sensed the cents' scents... Set the set set set! My peer is on the pier. Is there a term for the sort of sentence that contains multiple instances of different but related homonyms, homographs, homophones, or the like? I have exhausted my ...

I am teaching myself German, just for something useful to do. I have been introduced to cognates and words that have been loaned to either language (German or English). I have looked on- and offline, in many sources, and through many tidbits of information. I have a long list of words that fall unde...

Noun: near miss ni(u)r mis
An accidental collision that is narrowly avoided

This term is used often relating to safety statistics of many corporations. Not only is the term misleading, but the definition as well.

Isn't a near miss a hit?

This is a phrase that my 80 year old father uses. My closest guess is that it may originate from a Duke Ellington song from the 1940's, but I still don't know the meaning. Any ideas?

What is the most credible version of the origin?

This time I am really and truly interested in the origin and age of a phrase. "Safety corridor" is a oxymoronic euphemism for a stretch of very dangerous highway. I presume that it was invented by Politically Correct bureaucrats to deflect attention from how little they have done to fix the road Sub...

This term meaning state funding, is commonly used in Canada but I am sure it has its origins in the U.K. The "google" hit is high but there doesn't seem to be a relevent origin. Pogy referred to a drunkard in the early 18 hundreds...could this be?

Evidently undergoing metamorphosis. A speech is delivered in a ~ way. As far as I can tell, it once meant mincing, ie, either being chopped up or done delicately (affectedly). However, it is rapidly coming to mean disgusting. Especially I'm interested in learning whether the intended meaning depends...

With ‘tsunami’ in the news, I began to wonder if there was any difference between a ‘tidal wave,’ which was the expression that I had grown up with, and the more recent (at least to me) term ‘tsunami.’ I was in Alaska on good Friday of 1964 when we were hit with one of the strongest earthquakes ever...

To get more out of a job than one is supposed to get. Getting financial aid when not absolutely necessary--Allen Iverson, Urban Dict The not so invisible hand of market forces that exploit the gangsta in a quest to pimp the American consumer is an aberration to those who are true, but a natural cons...

Is this of German origin or is it a slang term defining those wonderful undies(underpants /smalls /unmentionables / briefs ) that women (and possibly some men) wear to eliminate VPL (visible panty line)
Brian - Australia

Hi:

Is this word - gentrify - and its derivatives - gentrification et alia - still in use? Both in USA and UK? Can anything beyond houses and places be gentrified?

Thanks

JC

Is it important to determine U.S. and Irish Whiskeys from Canadian and Scotish Whiskies? I have been corrected on occasion to specify brand or country.

In response to the alikidoo topic, Dale used the phrase "obscurity factor". When did factor come to be used in this manner? None of the definitions seem to apply to this usage.

Thanks,
JF 12/19/2004

Does anyone know the origin of the above phrase?

Thanks,
JF 12/19/2004