Word: merriams
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They can breathe easier now. In contrast to the more conservative gatekeepers at Merriam-Webster and The Oxford English Dictionary, the editors at American Heritage practice a linguistic open-door policy. Give us your "shock jocks," your "scuzzbuckets," they say. Give us your "digerati" yearning to "multitask." "People look at the dictionary as a normalizing thing," says executive editor Joseph Pickett. "It helps to give the word codified status." Not all words, thankfully. Take "stalkerazzi," which gained currency after Lady Diana's death. The term was considered for the dictionary but couldn't produce convincing credentials. Maybe it lost...
...irreverent playfulness with language as if it were an assumed meaningless jargon. Spacey's Mickey clarifies the distinction between "flip" and "sarcastic"; Chazz Palmenteri's actor-99.44 percent consisting of repressed fury--seeks some solace in the exact conceptual phrasing of "karma"; and then there's Eddie's kabbalistic Merriam-Webster romp. Some bits are even a little reminiscent of a Coen screenplay, the way the guys repeat and throw this or that phrase around like an exotic football...
...fairy godmother turned out to be Seaboard Corp., a giant of agribusiness with headquarters in Merriam, Kans., and controlled out of Chestnut Hill, Mass. Seaboard officials announced that they would restart the shuttered pork-processing plant that had once been the town's largest employer--if the city offered a little help. Albert Lea responded by giving Seaboard a $2.9 million low-interest loan and a special deal on its sewer bill and grading and paving parking lots for employees. And before long, the plant reopened, and several hundred workers were back...
...leader who claims divinity or a special relationship to God." One could logically include almost every religion now sanctioned by the Ministry in this definition, at least in their early stages. Webster in fact agrees with this all-encompassing usage of cult. In the 10th Collegiate edition of Merriam-Webster, a cult is described as "a system of religious beliefs and ritual...
...tables are simple, black and round, the chairs traditional wood. Pretentious, no; classy, yes. The Victorian shelves that line the walls are adorned with all sorts of chatzchkes. cookie jars, old-fashioned scales, basket, and copper kettles make for interesting conversation pieces when coffee-talk goes stale. Merriam's sister Susan, a graduate student at Harvard, created the soft-colored paintings that hang on the walls, complementing the tranquil effect generated by the blue-green, cream and white decor of the small interior. One simply feels content sitting among the friendly and sociable clientele, many of whom are regulars...