(MAWD-lin)

Means: Weepy and overly sentimental, usually with a few drinks in you.

Etymology: From Maudelen, the old English way of saying Magdalene, as in Mary Magdalene. Medieval painters almost always showed her crying, so her name turned into a word for tearful, and by the 1600s it was attached to the guy getting misty at the end of the night.

"Two more rounds and he'll get maudlin about the '84 Cubs again."

In 1956 Charles and Ray Eames introduced the Eames Lounge Chair: molded plywood shells, leather cushions, and a swivel base, made by Herman Miller. Charles said he wanted it to have "the warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman's mitt." That's mid-century modern in one object: new materials like bent plywood, honest construction you can see, and furniture built for actually living in. Herman Miller has made it ever since, and it's still the chair every guy with a home office is secretly shopping for.

Early golfers noticed something strange: a beat-up ball flew farther than a brand-new smooth one, so they started roughing them up on purpose. Here's why. Dimples churn up a thin layer of turbulent air that hugs the ball longer, so the wake behind it is smaller and there's less drag. Add backspin and the dimples help give it lift, too. A perfectly smooth ball would go roughly half as far. Most balls today have somewhere between 300 and 500 dimples.

Guy at the bar is slamming beers. Bartender says, "Slow down, what's the rush?"

"You'd drink fast too if you had what I've got."

"What've you got?"

"About eight minutes before my wife figures out I'm not at Home Depot."

A beer style is hiding in each sentence, running across the words. Find all four.

1. Don't stop or terrify the dog.
2. The village rejected the plan.
3. That's a must out west.
4. Skip a round if you're short.

Answers in tomorrow's issue.