back door draft
n.— «[Arnold] Garcia:&hellip’”The use of the increaseing dependence on the reserve and guard components amounts to, as one of the editorial writers said in a meeting yesterday, a back door draft.”…[Carol] Lin: “That’s interesting. A back door draft. In a sense even though it’s a volunteer army, but these guys didn’t sign up with the idea of spending their Christmas in the desert, I [sic] sure, certainly under these battle conditions.”» —“New Poll Shows Half Of Americans Disapprove Of Bush’s Handling Of Iraq” by Carol Lin CNN Sunday Nov. 9, 2003. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...
A flashlight doesn’t flash. It provides a steady beam of light. So why is it called a flashlight? The earliest versions lit up only briefly before the batteries gave out and required a recharge, so they were literally “flash lights...