Words That Shaped Last Week: "Presidential Libraries," "Ricin," and "Brunette Betty"

Words That Shaped Last Week: "Presidential Libraries," "Ricin," and "Brunette Betty"
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By Juli Weiner

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For your edification, a look back at the phrases, nouns, and neologisms that have, for better or for worse, shaped the week's national discourse.

Ungrounded [uhn-ground-ed], adjective: The state of being allowed to go outside and hang out with people again after modifying so-called problematic "battery issues" or whatever. It's like, bore someone else with your fascism already, F.A.A.

Federal Medical Center Devens [fed-uh-ruhl med-ik-uhl sent-er deh-vinz], noun: The new Massachusetts home of recuperating--but no longer cooperating--Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Presidential libraries [prez-uh-dent-shul lye-brair-eez], noun: National Archives and Records Administration-maintained collections of documents from various presidential administrations; a group whose ranks now include the esteemed, punchline-ready Bush Library and Museum.

Bette Midler [bet mid-luhr], noun: An American singer, actress, comedian, and all-around icon who stars in Broadway's new I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers.

Coffee [kof-fee], noun: Coffee? Did you just say coffee? Oh, did you want to get some coffee? Yeah, we should totally get coffee sometime! Let's put something on the books for soon, O.K.? We always say we'll do this but this time let's mean it, ha ha!

Maternity dress [muh-turn-it-ee dress], noun: An historically dowdy and inelegant item that, when selected and worn by Kate Middleton, manages to look more Grace Kelly than Kate Plus Eight.

Ricin [ry-sin], noun: A poison avoided by Elvis impersonators--but possibly popular with pro bono Mensa-membership watchdogs-slash-Mississippi-based Taekwondo specialists.

Brunette Betty [brew-net bet-ee], noun: Surely an improvement over Fat Betty, even a reluctant January Jones will agree?Gwyneth Paltrow [gwen-ith pal-troh], noun: Contains multitudes!

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