THUMBSUCKER

PRONUNCIATION: (THUHM-suhk-uhr)

MEANING: noun:
1. Someone who likes to suck their thumb.
2. A journalistic piece that deals with the background and interpretation of events instead of hard news.

ETYMOLOGY: Why thumbsucker for such a piece of writing? It has been explained as something that a journalist writes after sucking their thumb for a while instead of going out there and covering hard news. Another interpretation is that such a piece provides background and interpretation of an event as a way to comfort the reader. It’s also called news analysis or a think piece. Earliest documented use: 1891.
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THUMBTUCKER - so much thumb-wrestling that your thumb is all tuckered out

THUMB-ZUCKER - what you use to induce German infants to suck on their thumbs

THUMB-SICKER - having a worse infection on ones' pollex