flake, flake out, fall out, flaky, cereal, crunchy, adultery

To have fallen out with one campaign chief might have looked unlucky. To fall out with two looks incompetent

Donald Trump loses his second campaign chief in two months

Did Paul Manafort’s effort to make Trump look “presidential” cost him his job?

ECONOMIST.COM

Americans do it guiltily, Russians casually, Africans lethally and the French habitually. Stereotypes about adultery are as common as research about it is flaky

An international adultery league table

From the archive

ECONOMIST.COM

Spotlight:

Corn Flakes
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What are you having for breakfast today? John H. Kellogg changed the world's answer to that question when he filed for a patent for his newly invented wheat-and-grain-flaked cereal on this date in 1895. For centuries, grains and cereals had been ground and soaked and made into a porridge. Kellogg and his brother Will experimented with different grains, trying to find a healthier food for patients staying in John's Battle Creek Sanitarium. When the Kellogg brothers tried to press some stale wheat into a dough, it broke off into flakes. They toasted the flakes and served them to their patients, who liked the crunchy taste. The Kellogg brothers used the process to create wheat flakes, the first of their marketed products.

Quote:

"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast." — John Gunther

《中英對照讀新聞》Sisters hope buyer won’t flake out on sale of cereal shaped like Illinois姊妹花希望買家不會被待價而沽、形狀酷似伊利諾州的穀片嚇到
◎張沛元
Sounds a little flaky, but someone has offered more than $20 on eBay for a piece of breakfast cereal that is touted as a lookalike to the state of Illinois.
聽起來有點古怪，但有人在eBay上出價超過20美元，只為了買一片號稱看起來很像伊利諾州地圖形狀的早餐穀片。

新聞辭典
crunchy
Meaning #1: pleasingly firm and fresh and making a crunching noise when chewed
Synonyms: crisp, firm
adj. - 發嘎吱嘎吱聲的, 易碎的

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - バリバリかむ, ザクザク踏む

fall out 

(Of the hair, teeth, etc.) become detached and drop out:the chemotherapy made my hair fall out

More example sentences

2Have an argument:he had fallen out with his family

More example sentencesSynonyms

3Leave one’s place in a military formation, or on parade:the two policemen at the rear fell out of the formation

More example sentencesSynonyms

4Happen; turn out:matters fell out as Stephen arranged

flake
n.

1. A flat thin piece or layer; a chip.
2. Archaeology. A stone fragment removed from a core or from another flake by percussion or pressure, serving as a preform or as a tool or blade itself.
3. A small piece; a bit.
4. A small crystalline bit of snow.
5. Slang. A somewhat eccentric person; an oddball.
6. Slang. Cocaine.

v., flaked, flak·ing, flakes. v.tr.

1. To remove a flake or flakes from; chip.
2. To cover, mark, or overlay with or as if with flakes.

v.intr.
To come off in flat thin pieces or layers; chip off.

flake out：俚語，睡著或疲累昏倒；行為怪異古怪。
flaky︰形容詞，小薄片的；像小薄片的；古怪的（俚語）。

flaky 

Pronunciation: /ˈfleɪki/ 

(also flakey)

ADJECTIVE (flakier, flakiest)

1Breaking or separating easily into flakes:she ate flaky rolls spread with cherry jam

More example sentencesSynonyms

2informal Liable to act in an unconventional or eccentric way:a game-show host with a penchant for flaky blondes

More example sentences

2.1(Of a device or software) prone to break down; unreliable.

ce・re・al

--> ［Ceres］ a. 穀物の.
━━ n. （普通pl.） 穀物［類］; 穀物加工食品, シリアル.

Idioms:

flake out

1. Drop from exhaustion, faint. For example, After running the marathon, be simply flaked out on the ground. This expression possibly is derived from a now obsolete meaning of flake, "to become flabby or fall in folds." [Slang; c. 1940]

2. Lie down, go to sleep, as in Homeless persons flaked out in doorways. [Slang; early 1940s]

3. Lose one's nerve, as in Please don't flake out now. [Slang; 1950s]

4. Go crazy; also, cause someone to go crazy. For example, She just flaked out and we had to call an ambulance, or This project is flaking us out. The usages in def. 3 and 4 probably are derived from the adjective flaky, meaning "eccentric." [c. 1970]

5. Die, as in He flaked out last night. [1960s]

6. Surprise, astonish, as in She said she'd just been made a partner, and that flaked me out. This usage appears to be a variant of freak out. [c. 1970]


flake (PERSON)
noun [C] MAINLY US INFORMAL
a person who you cannot trust to remember things or to do what they say they will do, or someone who behaves in a strange way

flaky
adjective MAINLY US INFORMAL
behaving in a way that is not responsible or expected:
The central character of the play is a flaky neurotic.