18 definitions by Buce

fisk

'Fisk' is developing a meaning that is broader than definition #1 but more constrained than definition #4. It's coming to designate any point-by-point (attempt at) refutation of the other guy's argument. Haven't seen it with a small "f" yet, but surely that will come soon.

Brad deLong did a nice fisking of the NYT's analysis of the employment numbers.

by Buce August 25, 2005

Moneymaker

An inspirationally sculpted backside, often, though not inevitably, female--sufficiently compelling to disencumber the customer of his (sometimes her) money or good sense. In an golden age of amateurism, perhaps obsolete.

Put on your old grey bustle
And get out and hustle
For tomorrow the rent is due!

In the fields of clover
Let the boys look you over--
If you can't get five, take two.

(Shouted:) SHAKE YOUR MONEYMAKER!

by Buce July 1, 2005

chump change

The point about chump change, in the sense of money, is that the amount varies with the context. For the divorced papa paying child support, a job that pays $9 an hour offers chump change. For the 50-year-old laid off after 20 years' service, a severance package of $200,000 is chump change. What would count as chump change Cf. rounding off money.

I work 20 years for chump change and what do I get when I leave? Chump change.

by Buce September 25, 2005

Money shot

In a porn flic, the one that earns the star her (occasionally his) large fee--the ugly or disgusting or degrading stuff that pays so well. In more general (and more anodyne) usage, any really important point, the point not to be overlooked.

The money shot in the prospectus is the paragraph where they admit they will never make any money.

by Buce June 30, 2005

Poofter

Male homosexual, but the particular nuance is not easy to isolate. On the surface, it is clearly a term of opprobrium. But no one can say it with a straight face, and so it takes on the air of cheerful self-mockery that we associate with Dame Edna or Crocodile Dundee.

Nobody out there but poofters sand sellers of loose joints.

by Buce July 19, 2005

You want room?

Pacific Northwest localism for: do you want room for cream in your coffee? Unaccountably, it seems not (as of this writing) to have spread down into Northern California.

I'd rather say 'you want room?' than 'you want fries with that?'

by Buce July 19, 2005

helicopter parent

The bane of the dean's existence. The parent who hovers and flaps his wings while the kid lives in his shadow. Particularly prevalent at high-priced colleges, where parents feel obliged (or entitled) to intervene on issues down to the candlepower of the lightbulbs.

Yes, helicopter parent, your intentions are good, but that rotor of yours is causing a din.--Felix Carroll, Albany Times Union, January 27, 2005

by Buce August 30, 2005