Irish pennant
n.— «The term “Irish pennant” derives from the Royal Navy during the time of sailing ships. It was a loose or untidy end of a line. In Navy and Marine Corps parlance today, an Irish pennant is a loose thread on a uniform, for which you get gigged at inspection.» —“Irish Pennants” by Jack Kelly Irish Pennants May 5, 2005. (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...
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...