Today’s Wordbird: PARROT-TOP

PARROT-TOP (N.) ‘peyr-ruht-‘top Any of the fashion-conscious folk who have adopted the trend of dyeing swathes of the hair in bright or pastel shades– making their hairdos look, from a distance, like nesting parakeets. (Also refers to the hairstyle.) Usage: “Giles, does that couple ahead of us have green hair, or am I seeing things? I mean…they’re not punk or anything. He’s in a suit!” “You mean the couple at the Gem Spa? No, that’s definitely a pair of parrot-tops. It’s all the rage, didn’t you know? You can get your hair tie-dyed that way at any salon. They call it rainbow ombré. Do you want to get parrot-tops of our own after brunch?”

Tags: Gem Spa

Liesl Schillinger is a New York-based writer and translator, whose criticism, essay, features and other work have appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Gourmet Live, The New Yorker, New Yor ...read more