dick
v.— «The security personnel who work for many of the larger media organisations call this being “dicked.” It was given a graphic illustration earlier this month with the kidnapping of Australian television journalist John Martinkus, who was released after his captors checked his bona fides on the internet. During his captivity he learned—to his shock—that he had been stalked for three days, without knowing it, before he was snatched. Since April, amid kidnappings and murders of Westerners in Iraq, the “dicking” of the media has reached such epidemic proportions that few journalists who remain in Baghdad feel either safe or able to function at their job.» —“Fear drives reporters to rooftops” by Peter Beaumont Observer (United Kingdom) Oct. 24, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A Kentucky listener says her father often prefaced statements with the phrase I tell you what’s the truth. This regionalism appears in the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (Bookshop|Amazon). A shorter version is I’ll tell you...
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...