Peter

The too-short, narrower end [of the tie] cannot reach the loop on the overlong wider end, and the two threaten to go off in separate directions… To compensate, the president resorts to a kludge favored by 8-year-olds forced to dress up for a wedding: Scotch tape. [Photos] clearly show a strip of cellophane tape holding the errant tie end in place. (Richard Thompson Ford, “The Ties That Blind,” The New York Times, 02/17/2017.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for answer, resolution, fix, remedy, cure, and band-aid.…

[Earning 12% a year on your investment is just not possible in this market.] So the meat-headed brokster [who told you this] is either a pseudologist smoking too much dope or an articulate incompetent who lacks a conscience. (Malcolm Berko. “Companies Are Offering Lump-Sum Pension Payouts to Save Money,” The Oklahoman, 11/29/2015.)…

[Starting with] the 27th letter [of Dr. Seuss’s “On Beyond Zebra”], “yuzz,” I was surprised, enchanted and immediately freed from the limits of penmanship and reading circles. Every new letter (“floob,” “zatz” and more!) was a delight and a possibility. Who knew you could break the rules like that? It was satori in the second grade. [Harold Heft, “The Book That Changed My Life,” The New York Times, 01/19/2020.)

This word can also be a synonym, when used in the above sense, for realization, insight, understanding, comprehension, awareness,   consciousness, recognition, insight or knowledge.…

[We] looked at the term Thomson, as the market leader [in the London travel agent business]. Where was its magic? They might have called themselves Lord Thomson, but self-effacingly stayed plain Thomson, like the bloke next door. … Thomson … has hardly any subtext. Despite this mild heritage, Thomson sells [travel] packages easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Thomson is holophrastic. (Trader Horn, Travel: Agents of Change, The Guardian [London], 09/17/1994.)

The venture capital community seems to love its holophrases: “incubate,” “accelerate,” “longtail,” “freemium,” and of course, the mythical “unicorn.” These are all words that serve as shorthand for more involved concepts central to the investment universe. (Ajay Raju, “The Next Silicon Valley Will Be … Philly?” Philadelphia Citizen, October 23, 2018)…

[This now-recognized term was coined by Dorothy Tennov in her 1979 book, “Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love.”]  I’ve noticed a weird pattern, in fiction and life, about sexual encounters: Women decide they’re not attracted to a guy they’re nestling with. Limerence is not in the cards. But they go ahead and have sex anyhow. (Maureen Dowd, “What’s Lust Got To Do With It?,” The New York Times, 4/7/2018.)

 …