curbstoning
n.— «There are follow-up visits to housing units where residents did not send in forms or mailed back incomplete ones and field inspections of addresses declared vacant or listed as having only one occupant, a danger signal that a “curbstoning” census worker may not have taken the trouble to look inside.» —“Can Heads Be Counted in a Dynamic City?” by Richard Levine New York Times Sept. 22, 1990. (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...