golden ticket
n.— «Their story highlights the troubles facing both foreign workers and island employers utilizing seasonal H-2B visas, which workers often refer to as “golden tickets” but require strict commitments long before it is always clear whether jobs will even need to be filled.» —“Bulgarian students stranded without jobs or housing” by Margaret Carroll-Bergman Inquirer and Mirror (Nantucket, Massachusetts) June 29, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When a teenager went a week without talking as part of a school project, he noticed a surprising side effect: Instead of rehearsing a response to what other people were saying to him, he was focused on listening — and feeling smarter as a result...
Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. Also, warm memories of how a childhood...