The Horse You Rode In On - 30 April 2012

<p>What colorful language do you use to when you're angry and tempted to use a four-letter word? There's a difference between cursing and cussing: It takes a slow mind to curse, but an active, vibrant mind to cuss. Also, what it means to be stove up, the phrases the horse you rode in on, and it's all chicken but the gravy, plus a couple of handy synonyms for armpit. And when, if ever, can you trust Wikipedia? </p> <p></p> <p>FULL DETAILS</p> <p></p> <p>The hadal zone, named for the Greek god Hades, refers to the deepest depths of the ocean floor. James Cameron's deep sea dive http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/26/james-cameron-historic-solo-drive recently made it down there. </p> <p></p> <p>There's a difference between cursing and cussing: It takes a slow mind to curse, but an active and vibrant mind to cuss—especially when the cusswords sound like alapaloop palip palam or trance nance nenimimuality. What colorful language do you use to diffuse anger?</p> <p></p> <p>What's an oxter? It's another term for the underarm, primarily used in Northern England, Scotland, and Ireland http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-oxt1.htm. A bit nicer than armpit, isn't it? Oxter can also serve as a verb, as in, "We oxtered him out of the club." Need another synonym for that body part that also happens to rhyme with "gorilla"? Try axilla.</p> <p></p> <p>A pipe dream is "an unobtainable hope" or "an unrealistic fantasy."  The term originates from the idea of opium pipes, and the strange dreams one might incur while high on opium. Back in the 1890s when the term first showed up, opium pipes were a bit more common. </p> <p></p> <p>Here are a few good skeuomorphs, or outdated aesthetic elements: We still refer to the ticking of a clock, even though we're surrounded by digital timekeeping devices, and the kids are working hard for those washboard abs http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/Washboard-Abs.jpg when they don't even know what a washboard is!</p> <p></p> <p>Our Quiz Guy John Chanesk