meat tag
n.— «Robbins says that when the war on terrorism started Fort Drum soldiers wanted to identify themselves in case they were killed. They’d get what are called “meat tags”—with their name, rank, blood type and Social Security number—tattooed on their ribs. They chose that location in case limbs were lost in an explosion.» —“Troops get different tattoos leaving war” by Oren Dorell in Fort Drum, New York USA Today May 20, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A Louisiana listener shares a favorite passage from Laurie Lee’s memoir Cider with Rosie (Bookshop|Amazon), about his boyhood in post-World-War II England. An extract is here and contains the passage:“For the first time in my life I was out of the...
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...