cushion
n.— «Cushion—Clay that piles up in the corners from the sliding cars. Those who prefer to run on the outside of the track can use this to push off and zip down the straightaways.» —“Learning the Lernerville lingo” by Paul Kogut Valley News Dispatch (Tarentum, Pa.) May 14, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Joe Messina from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wonders about the saying That’s it, Fort Pitt, meaning “That’s the end of it” or “We’re done.” The phrase goes back to a slogan for the Fort Pitt Brewing Company, which operated in Pittsburgh from 1906 to...
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...