Headcase

Did you know that Pete Townsend is on record with at the O.E.D. as the earliest known user of the word headcase? Read all about it in Cyber-Neologoliferation.

Are you an amateur etymologist yourself? Well, here's your chance for fame and fortune...

Word of the Day: Busking

Something the Moral Majority should be pontificating about, perhaps? NO! Busking is just playing music or performing entertainment in a public place, usually while soliciting money. The Brits use it more commonly.

I came across the word in an article about those cuties Old Crow Medicine Show in the Sept/Oct 2006 No Depression. Marty Stuart is exclaiming " 'I missed them between the two Opry shows that night-- and then learned that they were out busking in front of the Ryman, after their encore!' "

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about busking.

Word of the Day: Shibboleth

Shibboleth: a word, pronounciation, custom, practice, or behavior that is distinctinve to a particular group.

I came across this word in an interesting Rift Magazine article about what First Ave was like in 1987. "At the time, the club also employed several iffy skinhead types that made me seriously uncomfortable. These were the guys with neck tattoos before visible tats became a hipster shibboleth in the mid '90s."

Read more about this fascinating word courtesy of Answers.com, and don't forget to check out the website of the famous Dallas, TX instrumental rock trio Shibboleth...