hoss election
n.— «When they read the column here pondering the origin of the term “Hoss Elections,” a Hawai’i phrase used to describe those senior class hall-of-fame awards in high school, the Valdez’s were the only ones to come up with hard evidence of the etymology. Larry Valdez and Henriette Lopes were voted Best Looking of their senior class in Kailua High 1959.…In their “He’e Nalu” yearbook, their photo is under the banner “HORSE ELECTIONS.”» —“History of hoss elections” by Lee Cataluna Honolulu Advertister (Hawaii) Aug. 26, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that...
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...