Archives

  1. Wooden Pinocchio doll with his long nose, teal filter

    bold-faced lie

    The term bold-faced lie refers to an obvious, shameless lie, one that the liar makes little or no effort to disguise as the truth. Bold-faced lie means the same thing as two other similar phrases,…
  2. young Black woman smiling in the mirror, green filter.

    slugging

    Slugging is a slang term for a skin care technique that involves applying an occlusive moisturizer to one’s face, typically before sleep, primarily as a way to prevent moisture loss. In skin care, the term…
  3. toy Star Wars figures showing a bounty hunter and Han Solo, in blue filter.

    headcanon

    Headcanon is a slang term for someone’s personal interpretation of or belief about the details of a fictional story that aren’t part of the “official” account. In pop culture, the word canon refers to the…
  4. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2022. REUTERS/Michael A McCoy

    KBJ

    KBJ are the initials of US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The initialism KBJ is popularly used as a short way of referring to her.   Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as a Supreme Court…
  5. view of dark rain clouds with lightning flashing between them, blue filter.

    atmospheric river

    An atmospheric river is a long, thin stream of water vapor that moves through Earth’s atmosphere. The term likens the phenomenon to a river due to the similarity in the flow of moisture from one…
  6. Photo of an adult stag in a field with forest in the background, green filter.

    buck naked

    Buck naked is a very informal phrase meaning completely naked. Describing someone as buck naked means they have on no clothing at all. The phrase is often used humorously to emphasize the absurdity or unusualness…
  7. two young male wrestling athletes gripping each other in wrestling holds, in a teal filter.

    kayfabe

    In professional wrestling, the term kayfabe refers to the practice of maintaining the illusion that everything is real—including the scripted personas, rivalries, and storylines. This often extends beyond the in-match performance to other contexts, such…
  8. light teal text on dark teal background: "web3"

    web3

    Web3 is a term sometimes used to refer to the stage of the internet that is anticipated to (or that is thought to have already begun to) follow the stage that’s popularly referred to as…
  9. 4 young adults sitting at a table in a cafe and smiling at a camera phone, green filter.

    glow up

    Glow up is an informal term for a positive personal transformation, typically one involving significant changes in appearance and style and often also growth in confidence and maturity (and sometimes aspects of personal or professional…
  10. light green text on dark green background: "shadow banning"

    shadow banning

    Shadow banning is a practice used in online moderation that consists of preventing a user’s content from being seen by others—either partially or totally—without the user being notified or aware of it. This is typically…
  11. light green text on dark green background: "sealioning"

    sealioning

    Sealioning is a critical term for a form of trolling that involves relentlessly pestering someone with questions and requests (such as for evidence or sources), typically with the goal of upsetting them and making their…
  12. black stylized cursive font on green background: "ambigram"

    ambigram

    An ambigram is a word, number, or other figure that looks the same or can still be read when viewed (or rotated) upside down. Sometimes, the new orientation yields the same exact sequence of characters…