blat
n.— «Alena Ledeneva, a University College London professor, will discuss how informal contacts and networks—which she dubs “blat”—have influence over society in post-Soviet Russia.» —“World of lectures set on campuses” by Mark Harper News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida) Jan. 23, 2006. (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...
Chad in Hilliard, Florida, wonders about the expression old as Methuselah, meaning “extremely advanced in years.” The phrase references Methuselah, a figure in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian tradition said to be 969 years old when he...