blower n. This is a slang word for the telephone (i.e. "just a second, I'm on the blower"). Yes, I know it sounds a bit rude. A contributor tells me it stems from the days of party telephone lines, where one would blow into the mouthpiece in order to gently remind whoever was using the line that you wanted to too. My contributor tells me her mother told her, so that's good enough confirmation for me.
bender n. 1. A big drinking session. 2. Be careful, because this word is also a rather derogatory term for a homosexual. I believe it derives from the phrase "gender-bender", though a contributor points out to me that it could equally easily refer to the, erm, position adopted.
