Definitions by Buce

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

helicopter parent by Buce September 5, 2005

nfm

Well, I thought it stood for "no further message"--something to add to the subject line to an email, when the subject line is the email, to save the recipient the nuisance of opening the, um, message. If it does not mean this, it should.

And the mule you road in on, NFM

nfm by Buce August 26, 2005

cigar 

Sometimes, only a cigar.

Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar.--Freud

cigar by Buce August 26, 2005

cad and bounder 

This phrase is worth noting precisely because it does not belong in this dictionary: it makes sense in a moral universe that has utterly vanished. The last "cad and bounder" died, perhaps, about 1947 (see London Daily Telegraph obituaries for further evidence).

Although they are appropriately linked, the precise meanings differ. A "cad" is one who does harm to a woman's honor or sense of self-worth as, for example, by taking her for a garden walk when he has no intention of marrying her. A "bounder" is a presumptious upstart, seemingly ignorant of, but perhaps merely indifferent to, fundamental norms of propriety.

You, sir, are a cad and a bounder.

A cad perhaps, but no bounder. My family goes back to William I.

cad and bounder by Buce August 9, 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?'

You want room? by Buce August 9, 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.

Poofter by Buce August 8, 2005

pity sex 

What men will settle for after whimpering and wheedling and begging. No confirmed sightings, probbly an urban legend.

Pity Sex Gladly Accepted --T-Shirt.

pity sex by Buce August 7, 2005