Linguist, lexicographer, writer, editor, broadcaster

Category: Uncategorized


  • Airplane book, thrival

    Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: airplane book n. a short, easy-to-read book. thrival n. doing well in a place, at an occupation, or at an undertaking; the act of thriving.

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  • Data exhaust, gate fever

    Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: data exhaust n. the incidental statistics and information that accumulate when people interact with a system, process, or event, such as when tracking visitor interaction on a web site. gate fever n. in the U.K., a prisoner’s growing preoccupation with leaving jail as a scheduled release date…

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  • Soft-roader, freshmore

    Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: soft-roader n. a sports utility vehicle styled to look like it is built for off-road driving but which is not really capable of it or suitable for it. freshmore n. a student in the second year of high school without enough credits to take sophomore classes.

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  • Victory-lapper, fil-lim

    Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: victory-lapper n. a high school student who takes more than four years to graduate. A similar term at the college level is super senior. fil-lim n. a movie believed to be important or to have a significant message. From an exaggerated pronunciation of “film.” This term seems…

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  • Panamax, pobber

    Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: Panamax n. a cargo ship built to be small enough to go through the Panama Canal. pobber n. in West Africa, a policeman who robs people. Police + robber.

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  • Nonprofit Foundation To Save Word ‘Schmuck’

    The Onion: Mel Brooks Starts Nonprofit Foundation To Save Word ‘Schmuck’. Saying he could no longer stand idly by while a vital part of American culture is lost forever, activist and Broadway producer Mel Brooks has founded a private nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the word “schmuck.”

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  • Stewburner, computon

    Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: stewburner n. a person who works in a naval commissary. computon n. in information technology, a measure of power or capacity of devices or systems such as storage, networks, or computer processors. The more common spelling is “computron.”

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  • Doll husband, slumber room

    Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: doll husband n. a man with a social or emotional attachment to a life-sized, realistic female doll. slumber room n. the room in a funeral home in which a body lies prior to visitation.

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  • Words of the year: there’s no problem here

    I’m sorry to say that I’ve been made to look like a bit of a spoiler in this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I do not think “all this effort to identify the key word of the year is worth very little.” I do think “it’s just folks having fun.” It’s important fun and it’s…

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  • Everyone has a crush on Erin McKean

    The fellow at Undress Me Robot isn’t the only one with a crush on my friend an colleague Erin McKean (who is married, has a cute little boy, and will probably respond to your belles lettres d’amour with a polite and pert “Thanks!”). There is this person. And this one. And this one, too. Portfolio…

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