bad dog
n.— «“Bad dog” means merchants who illegally sell tobacco. Good dog, of course, applies to merchants to who don’t take the bait.…the Attorney General’s Office will send letters to retailers, including those who sold cigarettes illegally and those who refused. The agents refer to them as “bad dog” and “good dog” letters.» —“Tobacco, Teens And The Attorney General’s Office” by Bill Coates Arizona Capitol Times (Phoeniz, Ariz.) July 18, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means “money.” In the same way, cat beer isn’t alcoholic — some people use cat beer as a joking term for “milk.” And imagine walking on a...