monkey board
n.— «“Young man,” continued the pompous gentleman, “I have risen from the monkey board. How? By beiing careful. When I was young, I made money by saving bus fares.”» —“The Good Old Times” Trenton Evening Times (N.J.) July 15, 1898. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
While reading Great Expectations (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens, a listener in Arlington, Texas, is surprised when one of the characters inherits some money, which Dickens describes as a cool four thousand. Were they really using cool that way...