blood border
n.— «She began by citing the history of the drinking age becoming 21 and the problems along the way. In the process of making a unified law, many states set their own drinking ages, according to Meripolski. This set the stage for people under age to travel to obtain their alcohol. “This created what has been known as ’blood borders,'” Meripolski said. “The youths would travel across state borders to obtain alcohol and in some cases die in traffic accidents on the way back across the border after drinking.”» —“Drinking age questioned at symposium debate” by John Coleman in Southern Methdodist University Daily Campus (Dallas, Texas) Apr. 18, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Ray, a teacher at a bilingual elementary school near Dallas, Texas, shares the Spanish term his family uses for gossiping after a party: saca garra. Spanish garra means “claw” or “talon,” and sacar la garra is used on either...
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous kidnapping case, using the...