empty tin
n.— «In the current politically charged environment characterised by an increasing number of what the state terms “illegal” demonstrations, rallies and riots, the police definitely has its hands full. Yet this situation is bound to spiral. What, with the opposition and of late civic society increasingly raising contentious national issues and the NRM government as usual acting with conceit, referring to them as “empty tins?”» —“Was there a jailbreak from CPS Kampala last week?” by Nicholas Sengoba Daily Monitor (Kampala, Uganda) Apr. 24, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...