Word: trapped
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...cultured luxury?I’m in Buenos Aires to study literature and history for six months, but folks, even just two weeks into my voluntary expatriation, I can tell you that the PR is nothing more than a show, replete with all the authenticity of a cheesy tourist trap; this picture of Buenos Aires is like laying down $60 for a greasy dinner and an overwrought tango performance—it’s simply not the real thing. People forget that Buenos Aires, despite what its inhabitants may tell you, is, in the end, a South American city...
...give children a lot of space it may surprise you where they go, the shape they'll take. Surprise is the one thing you can't have planned for. The word is borrowed from French, literally to take over. It suggests an ambush, a conquering, even a trap...
...etymologists, a slur's validity hangs heavily on history. The concept of tar baby goes way back, according to Words@Random from Random House: "The tar baby is a form of a character widespread in African folklore. In various folktales, gum, wax or other sticky material is used to trap a person." The term itself was popularized by the 19th-century Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, in which the character Br'er Fox makes a doll out of tar to ensnare his nemesis Br'er Rabbit. The Oxford American Dictionary defines tar baby much like Romney used...
...word. McKean says that the next print version of the Oxford American Dictionary will note that tar baby can have derogatory connotations. Which may help public figures avoid becoming ensnared by Br'er Fox more than a century after he set his little trap...
...difficulties with killing tigers is that they scream. Snaring them is simple enough, says Nitin Desai, a conservationist at the Wildlife Protection Society of India-you set a few iron traps near a game-park watering hole, then wait for a tiger to take a wrong step. But when the trap's jagged metal teeth sink into its paw, the tiger howls-an alarm that can rouse a sleepy park ranger. So, a smart poacher will plunge a spear down the trapped animal's throat and tear out its vocal chords; then, at his leisure, he can poison or electrocute...