fairy ring
n.— «Everyone who is accustomed to the country knows a “fairy ring” when he sees it. Each ring is only a belt of grass of a much darker green than that surrounding it.…If the grass of these “fairy rings” be examined in the Spring and early Summer, it will be found to conceal a number of agarics or “toadstools.”» —“Fairy Rings” New York Times Mar. 3, 1872. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Nancy Gabriel from Ithaca, New York, recalls her father’s no-nonsense responses to minor injuries when she was a child: After making sure she was really all right, he’d say, It’s far enough from your heart; it won’t kill you. Other times he might...
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a word-pecker is “a person who trifles or plays with, or quibbles over, words.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word-Peckers” I always love it when I’m looking through the dictionary and...