blue canary
n.— «I’ve got to admit I was only a little surprised by the fact that the cops ran in the building without gear, common sense, etc. Have you ever seen cops approach the scene of a possible Haz-Mat incident? They’re not called “Blue Canaries” for nothing!» —“Re: COPS last saturday” by Harry Fell Usenet: misc.emerg-services Sept. 14, 1995. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks and jaw-dropping views. And: a musician who rode the rails in his youth shares the slang he...
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...