Vocal fry

Vocal fry, or glottalization, is a low, staccato vibration during speech, produced by a slow fluttering of the vocal  chords: listen here  http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/vocalfryshort.mp3

According to Science Now:

"A curious vocal pattern has crept into the speech of young adult women who speak American English: low, creaky vibrations, also called vocal fry. Pop singers, such as Britney Spears, slip vocal fry into their music as a way to reach low notes and add style. Now, a new study of young women in New York state shows that the same guttural vibration—once considered a speech disorder—has become a language fad.


Since the 1960s, vocal fry has been recognized as the lowest of the three vocal registers, which also include falsetto and modal—the usual speaking register."


Here's a full blown example: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Riffle & Faro

The standard way to mix a deck of playing cards—the one used everywhere from casinos to rec rooms—is what is known as a riffle (or "dovetail") shuffle.


(you have to shuffle seven times before a deck becomes truly scrambled.)


A perfect (or "faro") shuffle, meanwhile, wherein the deck is split precisely in half and the two halves are zippered together in perfect alternation, isn't random at all. In fact, it's completely predictable. Eight perfect shuffles will return a 52-card deck to its original order, with every card cycling back to its starting position.


More here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204826704577074501731476934.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_8

Hachiroku

The new Toyota sports car is called  Hachiroku, which means '86'.  To be introduced stateside in 2012m, we don't think it'll be called '86' here which is a bar slang for an undesirable customer,or one that must be evicted from the premises.


"This continues Toyota's sports car bloodline," Mr. Toyoda told reporters after driving a Hachiroku around the Fuji Speedway race track. "The 86 incorporates a sense of driving pleasure that we call 'doki-doki' or 'waku-waku,'" the Japanese for "heart-pounding" or "euphoric."

descriptivist vs prescriptivist

"academic linguists and other "descriptivist" grammarians dismiss the notion of grammatical "correctness" and insist that "rules" are wholly determined by usage."

chuppah

chuppah is a canopy under which a Jewish couple stand during their wedding ceremony.

Inaccrochable

Back in the 1920s Gertrude Stein was advising young Ernest Hemingway telling him that "You mustn't write anything that is inaccrochable".  (inaccrochable: a French expression meaning that his stories and his language were too raw, too revealing, too exposed for a refined society.)

Meanwhile

Richard Preston  was asked by the late Michael Crichton relatives to complete his unfinished novel titled Micro.


"Ms. Jordan (Michael Crichton assistant) line-edited the book to make sure the voice was consistent. At her suggestion, Mr. Preston dropped the word, "meanwhile," which Mr. Crichton hated."