12-9
n.— «Based on the dozens of cases of people struck by subway trains each year—events known in transit parlance by the code 12-9—it is easy to speculate on what their last week must have been like.» —“What the Motorman Saw” by Jake Mooney New York Times Dec.4, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A young caller from the Hudson Valley of New York wonders about his grandmother’s use of stemwinder to praise a speech she thought was excellent. In the early 1800s, people used pocket watches that had to be wound with a tiny key. Once someone...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...