handbags
n.— «One of the joys of following English soccer is learning some of its delightful jargon. My favorite bit, perhaps because it is so politically incorrect, is the phrase applied to second-rate soccer fights—”handbags at ten paces,” or “handbags” for short.» —“Handbags” by Paul “Deacon” Mirengoff Power Line (Bethesda, Md.) Oct. 27, 2003. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A...