gravy plane
n.— «You’ve heard of the “gravy train?”…Well, my book reveals the “gravy plane”—it is to my knowledge the first definitive work in the United States on the massive subsidies that flow from various federal agencies, 50 state governments and municipalities—subsidies that help aviation. These subsidies are much bigger than any to Amtrak or any rail passenger carrier of the past.» —“Book Calls For Action on Fast Trains” in Washington, D.C. U.S. Newswire Jan. 16, 1992. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuries, everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern...
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...