chop
n.— «A gay supply officer aboard a nuclear submarine based in Norfolk heard that Clinton was lifting the military’s ban on homosexuals.…”I thought the change was imminent, that it was just going to happen really quickly. I thought I was safe,” said the lieutenant, nicknamed “Chop” after the pork-chop-shaped gold pin worn by supply officers.» —“Sailor Who Disclosed Homosexuality Now Finds Himself in Legal Limb” by Joyce Murdoch Washington Post Feb. 8, 1993. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, why do we say...
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...