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Official Dictionary of Unofficial English-Grant-Barrett-0071458042

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(Lagos, Nigeria) (June 16) “Menace of Touts” (Int.)

area boy

blow and a bottle of Cristal, or do a casting-couch number. 2001

[Steve Regan] Hull Daily Mail (U.K.) (Jan. 1) “I loathe the sound of breaking glass I DON’T like the sound or sight of breaking glass...“

! I don’t need the image of an AMW (actress, model, whatever) flashing her thighs and pouting saucily to encourage me. 2004 Xeni Jardin Boing Boing (May 5) (Int.) ! We stopped to let some AMWs (actress-model-whatevers) cross the street from SkyBar toward Chateau Marmont.

area boy n. a hoodlum or street thug; AGBERO. Crime & Prisons. Nigeria.

1992 Karl Maier @ Lagos, Nigeria (Africa News Service) (June 8) “Crisis Rocks Oil Giant” ! Sporadic riots continued for several days, especially in the big Idumota market on the central island of Lagos, where local thugs known as “area boys” sought to extort protection money from traders. 1993 (Inter Press Service) (July 6) “Nigeria: Army Calls for Calm as Violent Demonstrations Continue” (in Lagos, Nigeria)

! Markets, shops, stalls and businesses remained closed in most of the mainland while the densely populated area of the island reported violence, mainly by miscreants known here as “area boys.” 1999 Tempo

(Lagos, Nigeria) (Aug. 18) “Journalists for Cash” ! League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents are the denizens of airport journalism— the act of ambushing traveling VIPs for sound bites and money. Yes, money, the way an “area boy” would do it. 2005 Daily Champion

! Despite the pull and push that has made Lagos a city of first choice for many who seek a good head-start in life, Lagos has its unique draw-backs, one of which is the menace of social miscreants otherwise known as Area Boys and motor park touts called Agberos in local parlance.

armchair pilot n. a person who talks about, studies, or directs airplane flying but is not qualified to, or does not, handle the controls; an aviation enthusiast. Military.

1934 N.Y. Times (Oct. 7) “Army to Weed Out ‘Armchair’ Pilots” (in Washington, D.C.), p. 9 ! The United States Army is going to weed out its “swivel chair” airplane pilots by making all air corps officers with fifteen or more years’ service take tests to determine their flying ability. 1936 Clearfield Progress (Pa.) (Aug. 10) (in advert. for Chesterfield cigarettes), p. 2 ! One sure way to tell the real thing from an arm-chair pilot...put the stick in his hand and give him a job to do.

1938-39 Individual aviators @ N.Y. LOTJ “Aero-Manufacturing and Aviation Slang and Jargon,” p. 1 ! Armchair pilot. One who talks a good flight while on the ground. 1943 Chicago Daily Tribune (July 11)

4

[176-10-
One of

Asiental

“Son’s Airplane Club Makes His Mother Expert,” p. NW8 ! Mrs. Lilly’s son, George, and nine of his pals organized an aeronautical club....

These young armchair pilots have taken their club work seriously.

1946 William L. Laurence @ Aboard U.S.S. Shangri-La, San Diego, Calif. N.Y. Times (May 10) “Bikini Rehearsal Staged by Robots,” p. 8

! Lieut. Comdr. Winfield G. Maurer, USN, was the armchair pilot who took the four drones off the deck of this carrier. 1948

6146] Era (Bradford, Pa.) (July 21) “Sand Pumpings,” p. 14 ! the most popular radio shows locally is WESB’s “Midnight

Clipper.”...Former U.S.A.A.F. hot pilot George Ward does the discjockey work and sends an armchair pilot’s “license” to all the fans who request one. 1986 Rex Redifer Gettysburg Times (Pa.) (Feb. 10) “Aviation Enthusiast Collects Memorabilia,” p. 14 ! Block is strictly an “armchair pilot.” The flights are all in his mind, and probably more vivid than if he had actually experienced them.

Asbo n. a court order designed to curtail unwanted public behavior. Also ASBO. Acronym. Crime & Prisons. Politics. United Kingdom.

[anti-social behaviour order]

1997 Raymond Duncan Herald (Scotland) (Nov. 17) “Minister Seeks Legislation for Stronger Powers Over Anti-Social Tenants,” p. 7 ! The move would give Scotland’s local authorities, who would be able to apply for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos), greater clout in trying to deal with unruly tenants.... It would be unprecedented for the police to apply direct to the civil courts in Scotland, and Mr. McLeish has gone along with this and proposed only council involvement in seeking Asbos. 1999 Nottingham Evening Post (U.K.) (July 13) “More ‘Noise’ Action” ! Individuals who break the conditions will be charged with a criminal offence. But Mr. Coaker revealed that only one ASBO has been issued nationally since the guidelines were introduced in April. 2002 BBC News (Apr. 2) “Report Shows Yob Order Gaps” (Int.) ! Anti-social behaviour orders, introduced in 1999, work successfully where they are implemented, according to the new Home Office study.... Known as Asbos, the orders are designed to prevent theft, intimidation, drunkenness, violence and other nuisance behaviour.

Asiental adj. Asian of unknown or unspecific nationality. Also n. [Asian + Oriental]

2001 Usenet: alt.religion.kibology (June 20) “Pride in the Name of Ramen” ! The local Carrs Plus/Safeway store, where I shop, has the most wonderful “asiental” aisle with all kinds of goofy stuff in it with pictures of martian fruits and vegetables on the packaging next to

5

“Beware the Yellow Menace!” (Int.)
bug-eyed cartoon kids (and poki!).

asplode

*2002 The Uvnaut Contingency

! It is my dream that every Asian/Oriental /Asiental person in the world would own and wear this shirt. 2004 Josh Berthume (beltane) iamsadred.com (Oct. 19) “#00003—Metrobution” (Int.) ! The people in front of us had some very urgent business that needed immediate attention, and this business had to be discussed in Asiental as loud as possible. The only English I heard was “Call me back in five minutes—the movie is starting.” 2005 [Jin] @ Iowa City, Iowa A Discontent Malcontent (Seattle, Wash.) (Mar. 3) “Making No Friends in Fourth Grade” (Int.) ! I brought Tiger Balm to school for show and tell. I didn’t know exactly what it was for but that it looked all asiental and so I thought people would think it was cool. So I passed it around and told everyone to put it under their eyes because Tiger Balm was what made Chinese people so good at math and the violin. They believed me.

asplode v. a jocular form of explode. Also a splode. Often used in representations of uncouth or uneducated speech. Sometimes said to be a representation of a Spanish speaker’s pronunciation of the English word, particularly as demonstrated by Cuban actor Desi Arnaz. This term was popularized in 2004 by the character Strong Bad on the Homestar Runner web site homestarrunner

.com.

[1996 Usenet: alt.fan.letterman (Dec. 17) “Dave Made Fun of Kid?”

! Is it me, or did Dave make fun of the kid’s pronunciation and said “Asplode” instead of explode?] 2002 Usenet: alt.dss.hack (Mar. 8) “Re: What 222 Was All About—a Scenario” ! Oh an I almost fergot that all my heirs fells outsa my hed when I asploded it cause I wuz standin too cloze ta it. 2004 Homestarrunner.com (Jan. 12) “Video Games” (Int.) ! YOUR HEAD A SPLODE. 2004 [waterlily25] Raechalsan (Jan. 15) “Your Head Asplode!” (Int.) (title). 2004 [IBleedPurple11] Fark (Jan. 31) “Woman Gives Birth to Her Own Grandchildren, Making the Newborns Their Own Parents” (Int.) ! IBleedPurple11: “What’s with all the exploding heads? A running joke that I’m missing? And besides, shouldn’t it be a’splode?” rancidPlasma: “when i said my ‘head exploded,’ it was a euphemism for fapping...this story is just too damn erotic for me.” 2004 Usenet: alt.games.mame (Feb. 28) “Re: My Reply” ! I’ll buy household items from IKEA and sell them on line...and then I can make a web site wih lots of spelling mistakes, and then also make sure I POST USING JUST CAPITALS...Your head a splode. retard. 2004 [Jorad] Fark (Apr. 6) “Photoshop Al Franken Taking a Break from Spreading Liberal Propaganda” (Int.) ! Al Franken’s Head-A-Splode.

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awfulize

awfulize v. to imagine or predict the worst circumstances or outcome. The first cite is an unrelated nonce usage.

[1974 Arthur Allen Leff Virginia Law Review (Mar.) “Commentaries on Richard A. Posner’s ‘Economic Analysis of Law,’ ” vol. 60, no. 3, p. 460

! It is a most common experience in law schools to have someone say, of some action or state of events, “how awful,” with the clear implication that reversing it will de-awfulize the world to the full extent of the initial awfulness.] 1980 Sharon A. Terry-Haag Family Relations

(July) “Review: Sex and the Liberated Man,” vol. 29, no. 3, p. 417 ! He highlights and subsequently shatters a multitude of erroneous myths that are conceived within the particularly large cleavage between what one feels he “should” or “must” do, and what he wants to do or does. His technique? Quite simply, anti-awfulizing—which seems to be proposed as the panacea for everything from impotence to omnipotence. He instructs his reader to focus on pleasuring himself and his partner and to learn to accept himself as he is. 1981 Albert B. Crenshaw

Washington Post (Jan. 11) “Don’t Blame Others for Stress You Can Handle,” p. B8 ! Awfulizing is “terminal pessimism,” which turns a half-hour delay into a global crisis. 2005 Kelly Griffith Orlando Sentinel (Fla.) (July 3) “Bits and Bytes to Ponder, Even Avoid” (Int.)

! Heard a new word recently and decided I like it. Awfulizing is the practice of thinking something is so horrible and so awful that there’s no other way to feel but depressed, dejected and without hope. Awfulizing drags people into pitiful states of despair—usually needlessly. If you catch yourself awfulizing, stop and ask yourself, “What’s really the worst thing that can possibly happen here?”

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B

babalog n. a young, Westernized social group or individual concerned with wealth, pop culture fads, appearance, material goods, or other superficialities; a yuppy or yuppies. Formerly associated with associates of Rajiv Gandhi. Also attrib. Hindi. India. Urdu. [< Anglo-Indian ‘children’ < Hindi baba ‘father’ + log ‘people, tribe, caste, folk’]

1998 Sevanti Ninan Hindu (Chennai, India) (July 12) “A Question of Style” ! Star News, with its socioeconomic category A and A+ audience firmly in mind, hires the babalog of New Delhi’s movers and shakers, the sort of young people who have trouble reading the Devnagri script. 2002 Usenet: rec.arts.movies.local.indian (Feb. 7) “Humour: Our Brown Sahebs (Re: Language in Indian Films)” ! This is a hilarious article I dug up from an Illustrated Weekly dated July 5, 1970...“Our Brown Sahebs—By Bachi N. Kanga...The Brown Sahebs babalog go to public schools where they wear caps and striped ties (the tie is Very important, it is the bond of a lifetime), learn latin, play cricket and eat Irish stew. They get their facts of Indian history from S. Reed Brett Esq., who dwells in great and gory detail over, the Black Hole of Calcutta. Jalianwalla Bagh? Never heard of it.” 2003

Usenet: rec.sport.cricket (Jan. 14) “Re: Sidhu Road Rage Murderer?”

! i’m anyway opposed to this Kakaji (Babalog) culture where these brats are given so many resources and power that they consider themselves much above the lesser mortals. 2004 Shobha De Times of India

(Feb. 1) “Page 3 Politicians” (Int.) ! The Babalog are gearing up for the party ahead (everything’s a party, darling, when you get to the bottom of it). Their idea of grass-roots level democracy does not go beyond checking their own manicured lawns for weeds. Don’t be surprised if election promises include really, really vital stuff like extending lounge bar timings and doing away with taxes on designer clothes. The party they belong to is the one being hosted by a polo-playing buddy in a sprawling farmhouse. These good-looking leaders will push an agenda that might include the transformation of their shrewdly chosen constituencies into versions of Buddha Bar. 2004

David Orr, David Guttenfelder @ Delhi, India Scotsman (Scotland) (May 16) “Triumph of Dynasty’s Darling” (Int.) ! These are the ‘babalog,’ the young crowd, or to use the buzzword of the Indian media,

8

“Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael,” p. 35

babymoon

the ‘GenNext’: cyber-savvy, computer-literate, young urban professionals.

babyface turn n. in professional wrestling, a change of allegiance or attitude by a wrestler, usually from bad to good. Entertainment. Jargon. United States. In professional wrestling, babyface equals ‘good guy’ and heel equals ‘bad guy.’

1993 Usenet: rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Oct. 10) “Eddie Gilbert’s Scarlet Letter” ! He mentioned then how the actions that occurred after that, including his unscheduled babyface turn at the 9/18 show, cost him his best friend in the business. 1997 Chicago Sun-Times (June 15)

! Meltzer called McMichael’s May PPV tussle with the Packers’ Reggie White “easily the worst match of this or many other years.” Don’t be surprised if a major storyline twist (read babyface turn) occurs soon. 2002 Eric Quinones StarLedger (Newark, N.J.) (Sept. 26) “Booker T Will Be Main Man Soon”

! Booker T languished in mid-card programs—yet gradually began winning over fans with his charisma and humor. After a brief run with the New World Order, he was bounced from the heel group, cementing his babyface turn. [2003 Classy Freddie Blassie Legends of Wrestling: “Classy” Freddie Blassie (May 1), p. 158 ! Sometimes, a promoter decides to turn a guy babyface because he’s not getting over as a heel. Other times, the fans make the decision for the promotion.]

2004 Usenet: rec.arts.movies.reviews (July 14) “Review: King Arthur (2004)” ! Merlin (Stephen Dillane) seems to be warring with Arthur’s crazy-brave knights, until he pulls a babyface turn (as they call it in wrestling) and decides to join the fight for Britain against the Saxons.

babymoon n. a planned period of calm spent together by a justborn baby and its parents; occasionally, time spent by parents without their baby. [Author Sheila Kitzinger claims to have coined the word.]

1993 Usenet: misc.kids (Nov. 10) “Re: WAS (Sweet Homebirth Story— 1 Year Later) Now: The Milkmoon?” ! The Milk Moon is my own twist on the term “baby moon”; the new baby honeymoon. 1995

Usenet: misc.kids.pregnancy (Mar. 1) “Re: Family Help After Delivery??”

! I think it’s great to give yourselves time for a babymoon before sharing your new little one with all of creation. 1996 Sheila Kitzinger Year After Childbirth (Sept. 6), p. 203 ! The transition to fatherhood is easier when a man can take time off to be with his partner and baby in what I call a “Babymoon.” A couple lay in food and other necessities, lock the door, and go to bed with their baby for a few days.

1997 Ian Hargreaves Guardian (U.K.) (Feb. 5) “Parents: Nappy Days,”

9

backdoor draft

p. T8 ! This period is the “babymoon,” when the parents enjoy a few days inside a bubble before contending with other, more familiar realities. 2004 Lisa Lewis Athens Banner-Herald (Ga.) (Dec. 26) “Lewis:

You May Be Entitled to a Babymoon” (Int.) ! I have learned a brandnew word—“babymoon.”...This is just like taking a honeymoon except you’re pregnant. So, in truth, this must be nothing at all like a honeymoon, however, the purpose is to have one last “hurrah” as a couple (whatever that may mean—a solid night’s sleep?) before baby arrives.... The originally coined term “babymooning” has an altogether different definition. The babymoon, as childbirth educator and author Sheila Kitzinger described, is the necessary uninterrupted time parents need to bond with their new baby the first days after birth, sans well-intentioned visitors.

backdoor draft n. extension of military enlistments through stoploss orders, which force personnel to involuntarily extend their tours of duty. Military. Politics. United States.

1999 Usenet: alt.military (Apr. 5) “Re: Recalls Occurring; Seeking More Info” ! One individual advised that he is being involuntarily recalled for placement in the Army Reserve, despite having been out of the Army for over two years. Apparently the referenced action is being taken because of the Army’s ongoing manning problems. I’m aware of the continuing liability for recall after separation, but among some of my correspondents the news that this “back door draft” is actually occurring was understandably greeted with surprise and concern.

2003 Carol Lin CNN Sunday (Nov. 9) “New Poll Shows Half of Americans Disapprove of Bush’s Handling of Iraq” ! [Arnold] Garcia:...“The use of the increasing dependence on the reserve and guard components amounts to, as one of the editorial writers said in a meeting yesterday, a back door draft.”...[Carol] Lin: “That’s interesting. A back door draft. In a sense even though it’s a volunteer army, but these guys didn’t sign up with the idea of spending their Christmas in the desert, I [sic] sure, certainly under these battle conditions.” 2004 Bettijane Levine Orlando Sentinel (Fla.) (Nov. 5) “Uncle Sam Still Wants Them” (Int.) ! That’s a draft...a backdoor draft. That’s compulsory military service...against the individual’s will.

backpacker n. a fan of hip-hop who is seen as a poser, slummer, faker, or elitist. Also various adjectival and attributive forms. Derogatory. Hip-Hop. Slang. United States. This term is usually derogatory.

[1996 Usenet: rec.music.hip-hop (Oct. 30) “Re: Gangsta Rap R.I.P.” ! If i came on here talkin bout baggy-jean, stripped-shirt, & beanie hat wearing, backpack toters, aka “hip-hoppers” I would get flamed.] [1998 Usenet: rec.music.hip-hop (July 9) “Re: Prosyletizing the Under-

10

Exactly What Is a ‘Backpacker’?”

bag drag

ground and Other Lanky Stinky Madness” ! I think that’s already happening in the form of what Stretch Armstrong disdainfully calls “backpack rap”—emphasis on lyrics and/or bugged production, with head-nodding a low priority. unfortunately, this kind of synthetic genre is almost always defined by target demographic, not internal resemblance.] 1999 Usenet: rec.music.hip-hop (Jan. 13) “Re: Last Night’s Eminem Show” ! Zee must have been mad because em is rollin with dre and will most likely be on a for sure classic Chronic 2000 and zee will still be nothin more than a boring piece of shit backpacker loser bum. 1999 Usenet: rec.music.hip-hop (Mar. 1) “Re:

! I use the term when describing either a trendy only independent loving hip-hop kid...you usually see them at concerts with backpacks on or the college hip-hop kid who wears a backpack out of necessity...they too often are on the independent/underground tip...these 2 often are one in the same. Another “backpacker” I can think of is the urban youth who are strictly public transportation, sporting the walkman listening to hip-hop. 2000

Usenet: alt.rap (May 19) “Re: A Classic Situation” ! If you wanna battle, nerdy-ass backpacker style and see who can throw out the most obscure, old-school, underground, unheard of ass joints then step right up son, you will lose quick, fast in a hurry. I know it taxes your underpowered brain to come up with terms like “true head” but that shit is weak...you’re trying to make yourself out to be some bad-ass backpacker, ’cuz you can throw out a few names that maybe someone who listens to Master P and Mase hasn’t heard of. 2004 Tony Green

MSNBC (June 22) “South on the Rise in Hip-Hop World” (Int.) ! There are a lot of places that we still didn’t get to in the video—Arkansas, Kentucky. And there is a big “backpacker” (or alternative) hip-hop scene that we didn’t get to. But that doesn’t take away from this video. It says exactly what needed to be said exactly when it needed to be said. 2004 Neil Kulkarni Hip Hop: Bring the Noise (July 1), p. 33 !

Company Flow first crashed into our lives in 1995.... We were dumb enough to think that Rawkus could be bold, new avatars of the hiphop revolution. The word “backpackers” didn’t even have any currency at the time; the reflexive self-hatred and reverse-racial inferiority complexes that would break out like a rash across the avantgarde hip-hop scene hadn’t yet gained such an engulfing weight.

bag drag n. generally, the transportation of luggage; in air travel, a connecting flight or the act of getting to a flight (with luggage); in the military, a change in deployment, especially a multipart itinerary that includes a change in vehicles, modes of transportation, or gear. Military.

1990 Carey French Globe and Mail (Toronto, Can.) (Nov. 17) “Airport’s Luggage Crisis of More Than 20 Million Bags Yearly Has British Airways

11

bajet

Staff ‘on the Brink of a Nervous Breakdown,’ ” p. F6 ! “Why, if we are incapable of transferring passengers’ bags, do we continue to pretend we can.” Faced with the anguish of being separated from luggage, the personal “bag drag” would surely be the better way, the staffer suggested. 1994 Vince Kohler Oregonian (Portland) (Jan. 29) “Astronaut Makes Rounds in Portland,” p. B4 ! Astronauts call it “the bag drag.” The name comes from lugging their bags from airport to airport as they make the rounds on behalf of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 1994 Laura A. Galloway L.A. Times (Mar. 20) “L.A. Speak: Flight Attendants,” p. 12 ! Bag drag: n. when a flight attendant takes a trip but never even opens her luggage. 1998

Department of the U.S. Air Force @ Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany (FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database) (June 16) “Troops Heading for Bosnia Can Say Goodbye to ‘Bag Drag’ ” ! The service is going one step further and getting rid of the No. 1 irritant for troops deployed to Hungary and the former Yugoslavia: The bag drag they experience when they deploy from their home base. 1998 Ray Johnson Airman

(Oct. 1) “Over Here, Over There,” vol. 42, no. 10, p. 40 ! For almost three years, the bulk of Balkan-peacekeeping troops have served in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary. To arrive, most did the infamous “bag drag,” hauling mobility gear from airport to airport, often incurring excess-baggage costs, delays and weapons hassles.

2000 Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Becky Howell Austin American-States- man (Aug. 31) “The Work We Do,” p. 26 ! Sometimes if you have a 20 or 30 minute turn in a city, somebody on the crew will make a food run to the terminal. If you’re lucky, you stay with one plane all day. If not, you’ve got a bag drag from one end of the airport to another.

2003 Richard A. Bowen @ Foothill Ranch, Calif. L.A. Times (Apr. 6) “If He Has to Fly, He’ll Skip the Trip,” p. L16 ! As the son of an international airline captain and a pilot in the Marine Corps for 22 years, I have spent a lot of time in the back—and front—of aircraft.... On a recent ski trip to Utah, I did not enjoy doing the “bag drag” to a security checkpoint after standing in line at the main ticket counter.

2004 Dave Flight Level 390 (Phoenix, Ariz.) (Dec. 5) “Non Directional Beacon” (Int.) ! At Las Vegas we had a bag drag, airline parlance for an aircraft change.

bajet n. budget. < English. Malaysia. Malaysian. Money & Finance. Politics. [From English budget.]

2002 Shamsul Yunos Malay Mail (Malaysia) (Sept. 21) “More Breathing Space for SMIs” ! The Prime Minister was hinting at a paradigm shift when he wanted the Budget to be known as “Bajet” and not “Belanjawan” from this year on. 2004 Leslie Lau Straits Times (Singapore) (May 4) “Uproar Over Rojak Malay” (Int.) ! This does not

12

bampot

explain why the government itself introduced new words like Bajet, for ‘Budget,’ into the Malay language, when the word Belanjawan was once commonly used.

bakkie n. a small pickup truck or van. Automotive. South Africa. [The Datsun 680, 1200, and 1400 light trucks were a few of several similar models, made by the now-defunct manufacturer, which took the nickname “bakkie.” A similar vehicle is now sold in South Africa by Nissan as the “Nissan 1400 bakkie.” It seems the term originated as a nickname, not as a brand name.]

1978 N.Y. Times (Jan. 8) “A Walk to Freedom,” p. E19 ! Eventually, along came a “bakkie”—a small farm van—and the driver took me to near Sterkspruit. 1986 Michael Parks L.A. Times (Oct.2) “Residential Segregation Will Continue, President Botha Vows,” p. 5 ! “It is strange that we are prepared to travel in a car with a Colored, and allow him to ride on our bakkie (pickup truck) on the farm,” Botha said, “but when he wants to live close to you, then there is trouble.” 2002

[David] Datsun 1200 Club (Nov. 20) “Datsun 1200 History, Models and Production” (Int.) ! The B140 is still being made in South Africa (the truck is called “Bakkie” in SA). 2003 Wheels24 (S. Africa) (Dec. 12)

“Honda’s Double Cab Bakkie” (Int.) ! Honda is going to show an innovative bakkie concept at the Detroit Motor Show in January. This new and innovative pickup concept will provide the world with its first glimpse of the direction Honda will take with a future production sport-utility truck model.

Baltimore wrench n. a chisel and hammer. Jocular or lightly derogatory. Besides Oregon wrench given in the citations below, HDAS records the similar Canal wrench, which is a shovel, and there is an unpublished HDAS citation for big red wrench ‘an acetylene cutting torch.’ From these we can get a broader definition of wrench ‘a tool used for a purpose other than for which it was intended, especially when used as an implement of brute force.’

*1938-39 Mendelowitz @ Wisc., Ohio, N.Y., Ind., Mich., Ala. LOTJ “Machinists’ Slang and Jargon [‘add Machinists’],” p. 3 ! Baltimore wrench. Hammer and flat chisel used to remove tight nuts. [1958

McCulloch Woods Words, p. 128 in HDAS ! Oregon wrench—Cold chisel and hammer.]

bampot n. a crazy person; a fool or dolt. Scotland. Scots. [Most likely a form of barmpot. According to OED, barm, “the froth that forms on top of fermenting malt liquors; the head of a beer,” is used attributively as a formative to indicate a crazy or feebleminded person or idea. This is, obviously, related to barmy or balmy ‘crazy.’

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