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Word: drencher (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
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Unlike Webster's, Cassidy's will not seek to offer a standardized version of the language; its gaze is fixed instead on linguistic oddities too localized to win general acceptance. For example, Cassidy has discovered that in various parts of the U.S. a heavy rain is called a duck drencher, a chunk floater, a clod roller, a toad strangler and a goose drownder. False teeth are known colloquially as snappers, plaster pearls, chow chompers and china clippers. The term baby carriage is now used nationally, but baby coach is a popular variation in Mid-Atlantic states and baby buggy...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Education: Hero Wordship | 12/4/1978 | See Source »

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