howdy process
n.— «Vivian, who arrived at the old Central Texas Zoo in 1966 as a teenager from the wild, had literally bitten the heads off two previous suitors. But the third time was the charm: Vivian reacted well during the “howdy” process—zoo parlance for slowly introducing animals to each other with a mesh safety barrier in between them.» —“ Senior citizen animals thrive at Waco’s Cameron Park Zoo” by Terri Jo Ryan Tribune-Herald (Waco, Texas) May 25, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator...