creeping crud
n.— «Mr. Chrapko agrees. He says he has detected a “steady drift towards communism.” Later, he will describe this as “the creeping crud.”» —“An old-fashioned Western meeting—on separating” by Richard Cleroux Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) Nov. 24, 1980. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1916, a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania printed a fanciful item about a local gathering with a guest list that included, among others, Miss Ella Vader, Mr. Ray Zor, and other punny names. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
In her book, Canadian English: A Linguistic Reader, University of Toronto professor Elaine Gold writes extensively about the common Canadian discourse tag eh? This word can serve as a confirmation marker, much like the discourse tag right? The word...