diesel therapy
n.— «There are men here with five year sentences for inconsequential crimes, men who were detained in county jails for months because of lost or delayed paperwork.…Many of these stories emanate from a common practice called “diesel therapy.”…Many of these men are taken in shackles directly from the courtroom on the day of sentencing. Thereafter, and during the two to seven month period while their paperwork is being processed, and depending on the extent off overcrowding in their ultimately designated facility, they are shuttled in shackles from one facility to another on a bus, and are treated like mass murderers. They have no clothing or possessions and no money and suffer tremendously.» —by Jim Coyne The Repugnant Warehouse Nov. 1, 1996. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
While reading Great Expectations (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens, a listener in Arlington, Texas, is surprised when one of the characters inherits some money, which Dickens describes as a cool four thousand. Were they really using cool that way...