dipstick survey
n.— «In a dipstick survey conducted by BT, English came out tops with 80 per cent non-English speakers listening to English and 20 per cent non-Hindi speakers listening to Hindi.» —“What’s our lingo?” by Edison Thomas in Bangalore Times of India Sept. 15, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The English language has been greatly enriched by borrowings from the languages of Asia. Barely scratching the surface, we have from Japan skosh, tycoon, tsunami, origami, yen, kimono, futon, and karaoke. From Chinese comes yen, kowtow, gung ho, and...
Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means “money.” In the same way, cat beer isn’t alcoholic — some people use cat beer as a joking term for “milk.” And imagine walking on a...