brass ceiling
n.— «Dunwoody’s daughter, Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, 55, has just been tapped by President Bush to take over a new Army command as the first female four-star general in the history of the armed services.…Dunwoody was proud to see his daughter burst through “the brass ceiling,” as service personnel refer to it.» —“Dad proud of daughter in line to be 4-star general” in Englewood, Florida ABC News July 15, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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...
One of the most powerful words you’ll ever hear — and one of the most poignant — isn’t in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. The word is endling, and it means “the last surviving member of a species.” The...