nines
n.— «Electromet silicon of less than three-nines purity, the purest available at the time, provided at a cost of $16 per pound.» —by American Society for Metals Ultra-High-Purity Metals , 1962. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Yvonne from Rock Hill, South Carolina, learned the phrase honor bright as a way of assuring that one was telling the truth, much like cross my heart or I swear to God. It’s common in the UK, and Shakespeare used honour bright in Troilus and...
The 5-Minute Linguist is a book of short, accessible essays by linguists who answer the questions they commonly hear from laypersons. For example, what’s the difference between a language and a dialect? What causes someone to have a...