NTMP #9: Cool Fred Beans

Let's do bluncher.

Mar 27, 2022

New-to-me Phrases, March 27, 2022

LambCam * Cosmic latte * Fred Beans * Alfred Butts * Bluncher *

The Phrases, With Context

We have a short list this week. It happens. I still find it amazing that after four years of collecting these words and phrases, I always manage to find something new. I think just once I had only a single word, and have yet to find none in a week.

After all, this excerpt from Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes is my entire jam:

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Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention
Be astonished
Write about it.

All this to say: If I’m ever short on phrases, I’ve got a 50-page Google doc to draw upon. So you’re stuck with me, week after week. Buckle up!

Today we have some fun names, farm spies, a convenient but huge meal, and a newfound appreciation for beige.

1. LambCam

My friend Erin and her family moved to a farm in Massachusetts about a year ago, and their Instagram account (especially Stories) is the best part of that app (besides maybe Gumi the red birb).

This week they got some lambs and set up a LambCam and I wish it was a live feed we could all follow because I’d never get any work done ever again.

2. Cosmic latte

Somehow I stumbled upon the Twitter account Depths of Wikipedia, and that’s where I found this phrase. A cool word combo on its own, the meaning is even better: cosmic latte is the name of the average color of the Universe.

It gets better!

Here are some alternate proposed names for this color discovered by a group of clearly caffeinated astronomers at Johns Hopkins:

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Big Bang Buff
Cosmic Cream (eww!)
Astronomer Almond
Skyvory (OK, this one is brilliant and I'm mad it didn't win)
Univeige
Primordial Clam Chowder

Also, the name of the astronomer who came up with Cosmic Latte is Peter Drum. I love a good name!

3. Fred Beans

Speaking of good names, Fred Beans is someone’s actual name, and I think it’s pretty great.

I’d go see a movie called Fred Beans.

(h/t to Abby for spotting a Fred Beans sticker on a car in Brooklyn.)

4. Alfred Butts

Look, I don’t mean to perseverate on people with the last name Butts, but it’s kind of what I do, and . . . why? Why wouldn’t you change it?

Here’s what’s cool about this one: Alfred Butts created the game Scrabble. 🤯

FYI, BUTTS is worth 7 points in Scrabble. The article linked above has another amazing phrase: “the Milwaukee Brewers of Scrabble.” 🥰

5. Bluncher

I’m probably not the first person to come up with this word, but it is new to me. After she slept in on the first day of spring break until 4:15 p.m., I suggested that my youngest child fix herself some bluncher (a breakfast-lunch-dinner mashup). I was wise to buy her PJs that say SLEEP ALL DAY.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s words and phrases! I’ll be back in your inbox next Sunday.

New-To-Me Phrases

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