chrestomathy \kres-TOM-uh-thee\, noun: A collection of selected literary passages. Chrestomathy literally means "useful to learn" in Greek, from the roots chres- meaning "to use" and math- meaning "to learn." Phone Stack A game played at either a meal or in a group setting. When at a meal, and everyone is on their phones, grab them and stack them face down in the center of the table. First to pick up their phone, pays the bill for all. If no one grabs it, everyone pays their part. When in a group setting, grab the phones and stack them. Whoever grabs their ...

cumulus \KYOO-myuh-luhs\, noun: A heap; pile. A cloud of a class characterized by dense individual elements in the form of puffs, mounds, or towers, with flat bases and tops that often resemble cauliflower. Cumulus stems from the Neo-Latin word meaning "heap, pile." It was first used to describe clouds in the early 1800s. Stack of Shame A growing collection of video games that have yet to be opened and played, likely due to the fact that so many good games come out and the owner simply cannot keep up. This is most commonly an issue for professionals in the video ...

Words: Simon Opie I know next to nothing about Dan Mangan except he’s from Vancouver, which I’m told is a great place to live, and his 2011 album 'Oh Fortune' is amazingly well put together. This song was one of my top tunes of 2011 and hey – there’s a new video release for it and that’s a great excuse to introduce it all over again. Mangan is aided by some terrific musicians and some backroom people who’ve coincidentally worked with many of my favourite artists – Black Mountain , Bill Frissel , Mike Patton – and despite there being ...

Savages: "Husbands" on SoundCloud . Violence and domestication rub against each other on London four-piece Savages ' debut single, out digitally on May 28 through Pop Noire , though the pairing veers wildly from the obvious conclusion. In the chorus, French-born singer Jehnny Beth shrieks "husbands, husbands, husbands, husbands," over and over through shards of hysteria, orgasm and indignance, the lustful repetition of the spousal noun rendering it meaningless and empty as the soulless eyes next to which the song's narrator awakes one day. "Husbands" investigates the terrifying possibility that the familiar can flip on a knife's edge, a line straddled ...

belabor \bih-LEY-ber\, verb: 1. To explain, worry about, or work more than is necessary. 2. To assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule. 3. To beat vigorously; ply with heavy blows. 4. Obsolete. To labor at. Like besot, belabor comes from the prefix be- which makes a verb out of a noun and the root labor meaning "to work." Cyclops date A date with someone you've met over the internet; it's not quite a blind date because you've seen their photo, chatted with them and possibly talked to them on the phone. I have a cyclops date ...

Lagniappe (la·gniappe) noun ˈlan-ˌyap,’ – 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus. Welcome to the tenth installment of the Lagniappe Sessions – in which we invite our favorite artists to cut exclusive covers paying tribute to their favorite artist/songs. This month we catch up with [...]

lunette \loo-NET\ noun 1 a : something that has the shape of a crescent or half-moon: as b : an opening in a vault especially for a window c : the surface at the upper part of a wall that is partly surrounded by a vault which the wall intersects and that is often filled by windows or by mural painting d : a low crescentic mound (as of sand) formed by the wind 2: the figure or shape of a crescent moon cropduster buttocks. derived from cropdusting. That girl has a fine cropduster. Trivia . History Montreal: the French founded the Quebec city as ...

Lovedrug, City Faire, C-leb and The Kettle Black @ High Dive | 5/19 | 9 p.m. | $7 | 21+ Lovedrug the verb, not the noun. That’s how [...]

spiel \SPEEL\ noun a voluble line of often extravagant talk : a speech delivered especially to sell or promote something iPause iPause: The period of time between when the light turns green and the driver in the front of the line of cars looks up from his iPod or iPhone and pulls away from the light. This is usually preceded by the person behind them honking their horn. I cannot believe the amount of iPause time I waste on a typical commute. Trivia . History Las Vegas : the glitzy "entertainment capital of the world" was founded (1905) Standard Oil Company: in a ...

cockalorum \kah-kuh-LOR-um\ noun a boastful and self-important person boastful talk Turd Giant Those who are around 6-7 feet tall, who go into public restrooms and proceed to use their height in order to look over the top of the stall at someone inside. I was sitting in the stall in a bathroom the other day and a turd giant looked over the wall.  Trivia . History Louis XIV: became king of France at age 4 (1643) Lewis and Clark expedition: began its exploratory journey to the Pacific Ocean (1804) Israel: the Jewish state was proclaimed independent; Egypt, Transjordan (later Jordan), Syria ...

funambulist  [fyoo-nam-byuh-list] noun a tightrope walker. Origin:  1785–95; < Latin fūnambul ( us ) ropedancer + -ist love-dumpling Feces From the Static-x song "Love Dump", used as Deirdre's user/ screen/ nick name for nearly seven years. It's becoming an alter ego. "I Always Loved You! love-dumpling!" Trivia Who was the first cartoon character to be featured posing sexily on the cover of Playboy magazine? Marge Simpson , of TV’s The Simpsons, in November 2009. Inside the magazine, the Springfield mother of three was seen in near-nudity in a three-page pictorial spread. History Mexican War: was declared by US president James Polk ...

pother \POTH-er\, noun: 1. A heated discussion, debate, or argument; fuss; to-do. 2. Commotion; uproar. 3. A choking or suffocating cloud, as of smoke or dust. verb: 1. To worry; bother. Pother is of unknown origin. It is not related to the word bother which did not enter English until the 1700s and is related to the word both. side girl A female companion kept by a classy gentleman as a secondary, or perhaps tertiary option for sexual encounters or other decadent functions. Side girls can be arranged by geography. As stated previously, in less polished vernacular, "having hoes in ...

cicatrix \SIK-uh-triks\, noun: New tissue that forms over a wound. Botany. A scar left by a fallen leaf, seed, etc. Cicatrix is derived from the Latin word cicatrix meaning "scar." The Latin word has no clear origin. You look tired Politically correct way of saying that you look like shit. Showed up real early at a swim meet the other day, this guy says, "you look tired". What he meant to say was, "you look like shit". Trivia What Revolutionary War hero was the inspiration behind actor Marion Morrison’s name change to John Wayne? The colonial general known as ...

sudorific \soo-duh-RIF-ik\, adjective: Causing sweat. Sudoriparous. noun: A sudorific agent. Sudorific comes from the Latin word sūdor meaning "sweat." The word "sweat" is unrelated and comes from the Old English, swote. intensive porpoises malapropism for 'intents and purposes' seriously determined and focused aquatic mammals, dangerous to sharks For all intensive porpoises, whiskey and vodka will both mess you up in a similar manner if you drink enough. Trivia How did the Daily Telegraph newspaper help the British Secret Intelligence Service find code-breaking recruits during World War II? The paper held a crossword puzzle competition in which contestants were challenged to ...

mensch \mench\, noun: A decent, upright, mature, and responsible person. Mensch entered English from Yiddish in the 1950s. In Yiddish, it meant "man, human being" and had the positive associations that carried into English. It is related to the German word mensch. Seis de Mayo the 6th of May - a special holiday, devoted to nursing hangovers and otherwise dealing with the consequences of Cinco de Mayo Tom: "Hey Dave, why didn't you show up for work yesterday?" Dave: "It was May 6th, remember?" Tom: "Duuude, you were so wasted on Cinco de Mayo- you downed like a full bottle ...