cotton curtain
n. a political, social, and cultural divide, especially concerning race, between the American South and the rest of the country. [Patterned after Iron Curtain, defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as “the notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989.”] A similar term is Orange Curtain.
n. a political, social, and cultural divide, especially concerning race, between the American South and the rest of the country. [Patterned after Iron Curtain, defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as “the notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989.”] A similar term is Orange Curtain.
WordSpy:
feature fatigue
n. Mental exhaustion and stress caused by products that come with a large number of features.
n. Mental exhaustion and stress caused by products that come with a large number of features.
Example Citation: I really want a digital camera. In fact, I tried to buy one twice. The first time the sheer number of choices freaked me out and I ran out of the store. ... If I'm confused and dazed, I can't be alone. And research is showing that I'm not. Professor Roland Rust of the University of Maryland has even coined a term for it—feature fatigue. And it's the result of companies making toothbrushes so complicated and loaded with features that they come with a DVD to explain how to use them. feature fatigue is the inevitable consequence of feature creep, the tendency for designers and programmers to bundle every feature they can imagine into every single product.—Jim Sollisch, "Buyer paralyzed by 'feature fatigue'," Chicago Tribune, September 8, 2006
news fasting
n. The deliberate avoidance of all forms of news media, particularly to relieve stress and relax the mind.
n. The deliberate avoidance of all forms of news media, particularly to relieve stress and relax the mind.
Example Citation: In his bestselling book 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, [Andrew] Weil sets out a programme of eating, exercising and living that will "take full advantage of your body's natural healing power". Each week he includes extra things to concentrate on, from eating broccoli and ginger to "news fasting" — taking a day off from newspapers, TV and radio that bring "in" bad information.
"Anyone who recommends walking as their favourite form of exercise and olive oil for cooking is talking sense," The Times (London), June 24, 2006
Christmas creep
n. The gradual trend to begin displaying Christmas-related merchandise and advertising earlier each year.
n. The gradual trend to begin displaying Christmas-related merchandise and advertising earlier each year.
Example citation: Labor Day, Columbus Day and Halloween, much less Thanksgiving, are now mere speed bumps on the highway to Christmas, folded into the 115-day month of Septoctnocember. Researchers call it "Christmas creep." That's shorthand for the ever-backward march of the holiday retail season.
—Jeff Gammage, "Already, visions of sugarplums.: Christmas elbows its way into summer," The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 13, 2007
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