bump
n.— «Dreger said data from the blowout, or “bump” as it is known in mining parlance, showed the initial motion of the earth was the same, though smaller in force, to the initial collapse. He said that analysis confirmed that the mine collapse was triggered by shifting of rock in response to activity in the mine and not other seismic forces.» —“Seismic readings at Utah mine do not point to quake” by William M. Welch USA Today Aug. 28, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Chase from Jacksonville, Florida, grew up in Sacramento, California, where kids played Rochambeau instead of rock, paper, scissors. Why the difference in names? Nobody knows. Folklorists call this a choosing game, and while the hand-game itself...
Responding to our conversation about the word chat, meaning “the gravelly residue of mines,” Isabella from Marquette, Michigan, reports that where she lives, in the state’s Upper Peninsula, such runoff is commonly called slag. She uses some made-up...