The Best Word in the English Language, Stop Saying “Broads”, Flipboard News, Awesome Couscous

The Blue Angels flew right over the house during the Air & Water Show, giving me the chance to get this photo using only my smartphone. Those F-18s are the serious loudness.

• Much verbiage has been spent discussing the worst words in the English language (the worst is pustule, btw), but there isn’t enough discussion of the best words in the English language. Luckily, I’ve named the champion.You ready?Lithe.Lithe is the rare example of a one-syllable word that is perfectly constructed to draw out the pleasure of speaking it. It luxuriates on an initial L, borrows the long I from glide as it moves through the vowel, then drifts gracefully into the -th dénouement of smooth. You can’t help but think “perfect Natarajasana pose on the beach” when you say it.(Or, thanks to Google, I now know that’s the actual title of what I was thinking.)The best word ever: it’s gotta be lithe.

  Lithe.

• Calling women “broads” is played-out and weak. This is the message conveyed: “Using this conspicuous 1940s sexist lingo shows what I think of your ‘polite society’ in the most passive-aggressive way! Toss me a mass-market light beer and lend me $200 for my bookie!”I avoid Jim Rome wherever I can, as he’s exactly the type of shithead who would use this word. I assume it makes up 63 percent of his show.
• The more I read Flipboard, the more I note that I spend the most time reading their News (U.S. Edition) feed, which is either human-edited or the most smart-person-like news algorithm built anywhere. Despite the title, it includes a broad array of international news from locales that the Yahoo! News / CNNs of the world avoid on their main pages, whether that’s Syria, Burma, the Philippines or anywhere else making news that fits into the spinach, rather than ice cream, category.Evidence would indicate that Flipboard leans toward the human element, as they hired Josh Quittner (TIME.com!) as their editorial director a year ago and have only improved the product with each app release. That’s smart: robot editors are what makes Google News unworthy of eyeballs. Don’t become Google News.
• Couscous: I invented this with some vegetables on hand, but it tasted awesome, so here it is:
  

  Phat chicken couscous
  1 ^1/2 cups water
  1 ^1/2 cups dry couscous
  Salt for the water
  2 chicken breasts, cubed
  ^1/4 yellow onion, diced
  2 tbsp vegetable oil
  1-2 sizable tomatoes, chopped, preferably from your porch container if you’re cool like me
  ^3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  ^1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
  1 tbsp dill (dry is ok)
  1 tbsp coriander seeds
  1 bay leaf
  Salt and black pepper to taste
  1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)

  In a pan with a cover, heat the salted water, then when it’s boiling, throw in the couscous and cover with the heat off. In a different medium saucepan, heat the oil, then add the chicken and cook it through. Add the onion, coriander and bay leaf (and optional jalapeno) about halfway through so it browns too. Immediately after that, throw in the tomatoes and cook it about a minute, then add the parsley / basil / dill and the cooked couscous, turn the heat off, stir it for like two minutes or so, then get your grub on. Serves however many you feel like.