crab walk landing
n.— «A friend who is a retired commercial pilot (but still works a couple days a week as an instructor), sent me an e-mail of pilots training to land Boeing 777s in high crosswind conditions. The planes are brought in at an angle, doing what’s called a “crab walk’ landing. That is, they come in at what looks like about 45 degrees sideways and straighten out after touching down.» —“What crab-walkers say: “Yeee-Haaa!’—or “Hail, Mary, full of grace…’?” Pioneer Press (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Jan. 23, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originating in Asia—the tomatoes came only later! Plus, a new book shows what’s lost when a language dies: when there...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...