dirty Navy
n.— «I have heard rumors that on some ships, the ships store no longer carries tobacco, even though smoking is allowed in the designated area.…Fortunately this is my last tour, and I am spending it as a part of the Dirt Navy, so I will not have to deal with that problem in the future.» —“Re: US Navy and smoking” by Charles L. Decker Jr. Usenet: alt.smokers.pipes Nov. 18, 1999. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
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...