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BREWSTERED

PRONUNCIATION: (BROOS-tuhrd)

MEANING: adjective: Very rich.

ETYMOLOGY: After Montgomery Brewster, the title character of the 1902 novel Brewster’s Millions by George Barr McCutcheon. Earliest documented use: 2001.

NOTES: In the novel Brewster’s Millions, Montgomery Brewster inherits $1 million when his grandfather dies. An uncle who hated this grandfather promises Brewster $7 million if he could spend that one million from the grandfather within a year. There are certain conditions, of course...
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BREW STEREO - the flavor of this beverage has a special depth

BREWS TIERED - a layered mixture of beers and ales of contrasting colors

BREWSTER, ED - interim president (as of 2021) of Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, WA

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HOOVER

PRONUNCIATION: (HOO-vuhr)

MEANING: noun: A vacuum cleaner.
verb tr.: 1. To clean, especially with a vacuum cleaner.
2. To consume or acquire quickly, eagerly, or in large amounts.

ETYMOLOGY: After the industrialist William Henry Hoover (1849-1932). Earliest documented use: 1934.
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HOPOVER - what you do when you come to a small puddle in the sidewalk

HOOKER - a water-pipe used by a Bostonian to smoke marijuaner

HO! OVERT! - what a voluble detective says upon seeing a flagrant violation

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COOKIE MONSTER

PRONUNCIATION: (KU-kee mon-stuhr)

MEANING: noun: Someone or something that is insatiably hungry or greedy.

ETYMOLOGY: After Cookie Monster, a puppet character in the children’s television show Sesame Street. Earliest documented use: 1971.
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COOKIE, MON! (STERN) - stage instructions to a Rasta parrot on how to demand a cracker

LOOKIE MONSTER - how to explain to a child about a Basilisk or Medusa

COOTIE MONSTER - the scourge of pre-adolescent males

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MARPLOT

PRONUNCIATION: (MAHR-plot)

MEANING: noun: A meddlesome person who spoils a plan by interference.

ETYMOLOGY: After Marplot, the titular character in the 1709 play The Busy Body by Susannah Centlivre (1669-1723). Marplot means well and tries to help only to get in the way of others and foul things up. Earliest documented use: 1709.
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FARPLOT - by stereotype, the North Forty

OMARPLOT - the Rubáiyát Conspiracy

MERPLOT - factions in the French Navy are up to something

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PANGLOSSIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (pan-GLOS-ee-uhn)

MEANING: adjective: Blindly or unreasonably optimistic.
noun: One who is optimistic regardless of the circumstances.

ETYMOLOGY: After Dr. Pangloss, a philosopher and tutor in Voltaire’s 1759 satire Candide. Pangloss believes that, in spite of what happens -- shipwreck, earthquake, hanging, flogging, and more -- “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” The name is coined from Greek panglossia (talkativeness). Earliest documented use: 1831. The word pangloss is used in the same manner.
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MANGLOSSIAN - after gender-reassignment surgery

PAN-GLOSS-MAN - the superhero who shines cooking utensils

ANGLO'S SIAN - "Jane" (from the Welsh)

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BREADCRUMB

PRONUNCIATION: (BRED-cruhm)

MEANING: noun:
1. A small fragment of bread.
2. One in a series of markers placed as a navigational aid.
3. One of several hints or clues leading to a person, place, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From bread, from Old English bread + crumb, from Old English cruma. Earliest documented use: 1519.

NOTES: In the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, their parents drop the two siblings off in the forest because they are not able to feed them (if only there had been a strong social safety net). The smart kids drop breadcrumbs along the way so they can trace their steps back and find their way home.
In computing, website design, etc., breadcrumbs help users as a navigation aid and tell them where they are in a program, website, etc.
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BREA CRUMB - a small lump of tar washed up on the Spanish coast

DREADCRUMB -a tiny remaining germ of fear after the acute episode has been resolved

BREAD-C RUMBA - that new Latin dance craze

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TOM THUMB

PRONUNCIATION: (tom THUM)

MEANING: noun.
1. A very short person.
2. An insignificant or unimportant person, especially one who lacks the power or ability in spite of high rank.

ETYMOLOGY: After Tom Thumb, the hero of many folktales, who is the size of his father’s thumb. Earliest documented use: 1579. Also see lilliput and lilliputian.
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TOM THOMB - a tiny but fully functional Native American drum

TOE THUMB - vernacular for hallux

TOM RHUMB - nickname for Tom Loxodrome, a gifted navigator of the Sixteenth Century and contemporary of Gerardus Mercator, the mapmaker

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DOMDANIEL

PRONUNCIATION: (dom-DAN-yuhl)

MEANING: noun: A place of wickedness.

ETYMOLOGY: From French domdaniel (house of Daniel), apparently from Latin or Greek. Earliest documented use: 1801.

NOTES: It’s not clear who Daniel is in the term Domdaniel. The place Domdaniel was introduced by a French continuation of the Arabian Nights by Dom Chaves and M. Cazotte in the late 18th c. Later, the place has appeared in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, H.P. Lovecraft, and Neil Gaiman, among others.
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DOC DANIEL - what my patients called me before I retired

DOOM,DANIEL - he may have survived the den of the Lion but his days are numbered...

DO MD, ARIEL - urging the Little Mermaid to vacation in Maryland

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CHICKEN LICKEN

PRONUNCIATION: (CHIK-en LIK-n)

MEANING: noun: Someone who is a pessimist and alarmist, always warning others of impending calamities.

ETYMOLOGY: After a hen in a children’s tale who, when hit on the head by a falling acorn, believes the sky is falling. Earliest documented use: 1922. The character is also known by other names, such as Chicken Little and Henny Penny.
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CHICKEN LICHEN - what grows on the North side of the neck, half alga, half fungus

CLICKEN LICKEN - chocolate-covered crickets

THICKEN LICKEN - wait for the dough to firm up before you scrape out the bowl

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OPEN SESAME

PRONUNCIATION: (oh-puhn SAYS-uh-mee)

MEANING: noun: Something that is an easy and effective way to bring out a desired result, gain access, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From the phrase “Open sesame” that opened the door to the robbers’ cave in the story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”. Earliest documented use: 1722.
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OPEN BESAME - French kiss

OPEN-SEA ME - I'm a completely different person on a boat

OPENS E-NAME - I'm researching the meaning of your hashtag

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