Basement Betty
n.— «It’s just not possible for the ma and pa shops to compete with the grocery stores selling cut flowers and the Basement Bettys undercutting the market, selling out of their homes.» —“Hannah Floral Branching Out” by Doug Fast Grand Rapids Business Journal (Mich.) Oct. 19, 1987. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...