Chilipunked in Billings

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:07:49 -0500

"Chilipunked" has made it to Montana.

In his Watch Yer Language blog, Billings Gazette copy desk chief Craig Lancaster notes that he's run across the word on Under the Dome, via UNC-Chapel Hill professor Andy Bechtel's copy editor blog.

While I’m certainly not prepared to give chilipunked a free ride into print, it is an entertaining little word, one that I’d happily drop into a casual conversation with friends. A similar but more instantly decipherable word is weaksauce, one I use too often (but never, never, never in formal writing).

A few more references, and the word will be well-prepped for the 2050 edition of the O.E.D.

More heat on Foxx over Clemens

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:29:07 -0500

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx took some more heat yesterday for her remarks on Roger Clemens.

The Banner Elk Republican was ribbed by "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart in a segment on the hearings on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

Stewart showed a brief series of clips of Republican members of the House oversight committee defending Clemens, ending with Foxx asking Clemens about "how hard you work at keeping yourself in shape." (Watch here at 6:31.)

"Yes, what's your secret?" Stewart mugged afterward. "Perhaps some formula you'd like to tell us about?"

She was also criticized on grammatical grounds by UNC-Chapel Hill journalism professor Andy Bechtel, who noted that she meant to ask about his "regimen," not his "regime."

"A word mixup by a member of Congress at a hearing, for example, is less forgivable than one in a phone conversation," he wrote on his blog. "Politicians are supposed to be eloquent and prepared."