Hothousing – The policy or practice of artificially accelerating the intellectual development of a child by intensive teaching from babyhood. ‘to cultivate in a hothouse’; in educational hothousing the children are treated as hothouse plants which can be ‘brought on’ by intensive education.
Valspeak: A variety of US slang which originated at the end of the seventies among teenage girls from the San Fernando valley in California and was later taken up more widely by youngsters in the US. Characterized by frequent repetition of ‘filler’ words (“like” and “totally”), emphasis on a small group of adjectives of approval [...]
Spaghetti Western, nickname for a sub-genre of Western film that emerged in the mid-1960s, so named because most were produced and directed by Italians and primarily shot in the Andalusia region of Spain or Sardinia (since they resembled the American Southwest). A usual theme in these films, because of the desert setting and the readily [...]
Gobsmacked – utterly astounded, taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment. To be completely dumbfounded or shocked. It suggests that something is as surprising as being suddenly hit in the face. Gob, originally from Scotland and the north of England, is a dialect and slang term for the mouth.
Carpet-bagger: A Northern political adventurer in the South after the American Civil War (1865) usually seeking private gain under the reconstruction governments. Their only “property qualification” was their “carpet bag” of personal belongings and were regarded as exploiters. 2. Outsider;especially: a nonresident or new resident who seeks private gain from an area often by meddling [...]
Desultory – marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose. Roman circus-riders who used to leap from one horse to another were called desultores; hence used figuratively in Latin to mean an inconstant person, or one who went from one thing to another; and desultory thus means ‘after the manner of a desultor’ (Lat: [...]
Lanyard (laniard, keychain,) is a rope or cord often worn around the neck or wrist to carry something. Usually it is used where there is a risk of losing the object or to ensure it is visible at all times. Aboard ship, it may refer to a piece of rigging used to secure objects.Lanyards are [...]
Refusenik (from “отказ”, “refusal”), was an unofficial term for individuals, typically but not exclusively Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate abroad by the authorities of the former Soviet Union. The term refusenik derived from the “refusal,” handed down to a prospective emigrant from the Soviet authorities. Over time, “refusenik” has entered colloquial English [...]
Boondoggle – 1) A product of simple manual skill, as a plaited leather cord for the neck or a knife sheath, made typically by a camper or a scout. 2) Work of little or no value done merely to keep or look busy. 3) A project funded by the government out of political favoritism that [...]
Panacea (Gr. all-healing) A universal remedy. An answer or solution for all problems. Panacea (Goddess of Cures) was the daughter of Aesculapius (God of Medicine). In the Middle Ages the search for the panacea was one of the self imposed tasks of alchemists. Fable tells of many panaceas, such as Promethean Unguent (which rendered the [...]