nines
n.— «One proposal is to require that the most dangerous substances be burned 99.9999 percent—the “six nines,” the company calls it.» —“U.S. urged to hurry waste disposal plans” by William E. Clayton Jr. Houston Chronicle (Texas) Apr. 11, 1985. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Aubrey in Waco, Texas, says her mother used to warn the kids against contracting honkus of the bonkus, a fanciful name for a contagious disease. This colloquial term probably comes from the words bonk and konk, meaning “to hit” or...
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...