gun time
n.— «A similar issue arose at the Chicago Marathon two weeks ago, when Wesley Korir of Kenya finished fourth, despite starting five minutes after the elite runners. Like O’Connell, his time was clear because of the electronic timing chips that are worn on each runner’s shoe. And, like O’Connell, his chip time was different from what is known as the gun time, measured from the moment of the starting signal to the instant the runner crosses the line, since he ran well behind the elites with the main pack.» —“A Marathon Oddity Leads to Two First-Place Finishers” by Joshua Robinson New York Times Oct. 23, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originating in Asia—the tomatoes came only later! Plus, a new book shows what’s lost when a language dies: when there...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski maintains that lots of nation’s names are hiding in plain sight during our everyday conversations, and he has a puzzle to prove it. For example, if he says, “Here on the farm, we don’t drink coffee. We just take the dry grass...