fobbit
n.— «According to soldiers at Patrol Base Uvanni in central Samarra…everyone at Brassfield-Mora, or any other FOB, is a Fobbit. But…1st Lt. Jason Scott…narrows down the definition: a Fobbit is someone who never goes out of a FOB except to go to another FOB. Sgt. Christopher Caulk, 37, from Hawaii, a medic at Brassfield-Mora, is more specific.…”If a mortar round hits your FOB and you can’t hear it because your FOB is so big, you’re a Fobbit. If you have more knives than you have hands and you act like John Wayne, you’re a Fobbit.…If you’re out in a Bradley (fighting vehicle) and you close the hatch when you receive small-arms fire, while the gunner at the Humvee is fighting back with his 50-cal (machine gun), you’re a Displaced Fobbit you’re out on the front line but you belong on a FOB.”» —“Appointment in Samarra” by Anna Badkhen San Francisco Chronicle June 6, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, why do we say...
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...