flipping
n.— «Those wetlands that remained were often tracts of infertile, troublesome land such as the West Coast pakihi swamps. Yet today even these are under pressure. Mechanical diggers are now used to smash the buried, impervious mineral pan (a method called flipping) creating land that can be used profitably to graze dairy cattle. This type of “improvement’—which destroys the drainage, vegetation and natural history—is still widely regarded as converting “wasteland” to productive use.» —“Bookshelf – In Print November 2008″ in Massey University Massey News (New Zealand) Dec. 1, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Our discussion of Anglo-Saxon kennings inspired listener Paul Holler of Arlington Heights, Illinois, to write a lovely poem exploring the idea of the kenning sea-guest, meaning “sailor,” and what it means to be a guest of the sea and what that says...
A Louisiana listener shares a favorite passage from Laurie Lee’s memoir Cider with Rosie (Bookshop|Amazon), about his boyhood in post-World-War II England. An extract is here and contains the passage:“For the first time in my life I was out of the...