Lexical Compendium

Surprise Me

Wait... what is this? Sometimes I come across a word, phrase, idiom, quote, reference, bit of slang, person of interest, etc that either I don't know or I find amusing, interesting, etc. This is a collection of those items so that I can refer back to them in emails, texts, etc.

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phononics

Phononics is the study of the behavior and control of mechanical vibrations and acoustic waves in materials.

The word is derived from phonon (a quantum of vibrational energy in a crystal lattice, analogous to a photon in light). It seems to be a relatively new neologism, as it doesn't have an entry in conventional dictionaries.

I first came upon this word in a Science magazine article titled Does the mantis shrimp pack a phononic shield?. The study provides experimental proof that the mantis shrimp’s club acts like a biological shock absorber, using phononic filtering to prevent damage.


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References:

  1. Does the mantis shrimp pack a phononic shield? - Science, 387, 659–666, 2025.

Tags: vocabulary , science

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pogrom

A pogrom is an organized (i.e. mob) attack of a particular ethnic group. Historically the word has been used to describe ethnic cleansing of Jews, but it can apply to any instance of violent, organized persecution against a specific group.

The word originates from the Russian word "погром," which means "to wreak havoc." It was first used in reference to the violent attacks on Jewish communities in the Russian Empire.

In 2024, as the Israel–Hamas war wages on, the word appeared in the news when on Sunday, 23 June, a protest turned violent in Los Angeles.

Demonstrators were protesting a real estate fair at a synagogue. The Pro-Palestinian protesters have been criticized as antisemitic as violence broke out and CNN's Van Jones called it a pogrom. And this rhetoric seems to be spreading.

The reason for the protest appears to be because the real estate event was promoting the sale of land located in the illegally-occupied Palestinian territories and restricting those sales to Jews. It's unfortunate that this hasn't been the headline in the news. How is this type of event even be allowed to happen??


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References:

  1. LA Times: Protest violence outside L.A. synagogue spurs widespread condemnation. Bass vows quick action
  2. NYT: Biden and Democratic Leaders Condemn Protest Outside L.A. Synagogue as Antisemitic
  3. Wikipedia: Pogrom
  4. Definition: pogrom
  5. CAIR: CAIR-LA Condemns Events Promoting Real Estate Sale of Occupied Palestinian Land
  6. Van Jones - homepage
  7. Mediaite: CNN’s Van Jones Calls Protest Outside Synagogue That Turned Violent a ‘Pogrom’ - including clip

Tags: war , israel-hamas war

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pulses

The dried seeds of legumes (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, etc). This seems to be a word that is commonly used in the UK. In the US, I don't think I've ever heard it.

I looked this up after watching a YouTube show: Food Tours: Finding the Best Cheeseburger in Los Angeles. The two hosts (popularized on Food Wars) are from the US and UK. In the US, if I were eating chickpeas and lentils I'd say that I was eating "chickpeas and lentils," while in the UK it seems like it might be common to say that one is "eating pulses."


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References:

  1. YouTube: Food Tours: Finding the Best Cheeseburger in Los Angeles
  2. Definition: pulses - (third definition)

Tags: pulses , chickpeas , food , television

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quishing

Quishing is a portmanteau of QR and phishing. It is a form of phishing that uses QR codes to trick victims into visiting malicious websites.


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References:

  1. Cloudflare: What is quishing?
  2. USPIS: Quishing

Tags: computer , technology , portmanteau , security , software

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rhodopsin

I learned, from sort of an unlikely source -- the National Park Service, the reason why "night vision" is reset after exposure to light.  That our pupils dilate  is probably obvious, but what I didn't know was that the body produces a protein called rhodopsin which, through a series of chemical reactions, gives our rods the ability to "see" in dim light.  The protein decays in bright light (though much slower in longer wavelengths, i.e. red light).  When depleted, it takes ~30m to regenerate.


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References:

  1. Dark Adaptation of the Human Eye and the Value of Red Flashlights - National Park Service blog article
  2. Wikipedia: Rhodopsin

Tags: science , vision , eye , biology , vocabulary

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rozzer

Rozzer is British slang for a police officer.

"Cripes, the rozzers are after us!"

I first heard this while watching the movie Wicked Little Letters.

The terms rozzers , bobbies and peelers (all slang words for police officers) likely originate from a play on the name Sir Robert Peel, founder of the Metropolitan Police Service in 1829.


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References:

  1. Definition: rozzer
  2. IMDB: Wicked Little Letters
  3. Why are the police in the UK called "rozzers"?
  4. Wikipedia: Robert Peel

Tags: slang , british

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sanewashing

Sanewashing (also sometimes hyphened as sane-washing) is a term that rose in popularity during the 2024 US Presidential election to describe the practice of minimizing or explaining some of the bizarre rhetoric from Donald Trump (this is often tied to a critique of "the media").

According to Wikipedia, it originated on a Reddit forum in 2020.

The sentiment that the media has been sanewashing Donald Trump and his campaign perhaps shifted a little with the coverage of Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on 27 October 2024. The headline from a NYT article covering the event read Trump at the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism.


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References:

  1. Wikipedia: Sanewashing
  2. The Atlantic: Trump Has Not Been 'Sane-Washed'
  3. NYT: Your questions about The Times’s election coverage: ‘Sane-washing’
  4. The Present Age: No More Euphemisms: Media Gets Real on Trump’s MSG Hate Rally
  5. NYT: Trump at the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism

Tags: politics , vocabulary

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sawbuck

A sawbuck is slang for a $10 bill. Likewise, a double-sawbuck is a $20 bill.

It has been suggested that the slang originated because a sawbuck (sawhorse) resembles an "X," the Roman numeral for "10."

I came across this slang while watching For All Mankind, S3E2.


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References:

  1. IMDB: For All Mankind
  2. Definition: sawbuck

Tags: slang , vocabulary

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Shoe Leather

"Shoe Leather" is a bit of television/movie jargon that refers to all of the boring/procedural parts of an exchange that often get eliminated from a script.

For example, you often don't see actors answering the phone with "hello" or even saying "good-bye" before hanging up. These little exchanges don't do much to move the plot forward.

(Note: there are other definitions of this term as well to refer to an "old fashioned" process, especially in police or detective work)

The origin of the phrase seems to refer to the sound of someone walking, i.e. the sound of their shoe's leather soles hitting the ground.


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References:

  1. What is shoe leather?
  2. Your Screenplay Sucks!
  3. YouTube: Why great filmmakers HATE this in a scene.

Tags: entertainment , movies , jargon

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skramz

There is a point in one's life in which not only does the music of the younger generations make no sense, neither do their labels. For me, this is illustrated by the musical genre of "skramz" (I've also seen it spelled "scramz"). When I asked my nephew what he likes to listen to, he told me skramz. When I asked what that was, he told me it was a synonym for screamo. And, well, the rabbit hole continues to HXC and post hardcore.

Listening to this music, it all just sounds like punk. But... maybe these are all just subgenres of punk?


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References:

  1. YouTube: The truth behind Screamo and Post Hardcore | What's the difference?
  2. Wikipedia: Screamo

Tags: music , screamo

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