bird peck
n.— «Sapsuckers are unwitting heroes to many creatures, but in the eyes of the timber industry, not so much. Timber people hate sapsuckers because they feel the birds damage the trees (unlike them, who only cut the entire tree down). They even have a name for lumber that has sapsucker damage. It’s called “bird peck.” Really, it is. That’s a rather cute name coming from guys who carry chain saws all day long.» —“Sapsucker is the culprit” by Mike O’Connor Harwich Oracle (Orleans, Massachusetts) Jan. 31, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
The term skycap for workers who help with luggage at an airport was coined by analogy with redcap, a term for porters on trains who wore red caps. Skycap was the winning entry in a contest. Another contest, held in 1923, gave us the word scofflaw, a...