ninth island

ninth island
 n.— «Joel and Melodi Kekauoha began hearing the term “ninth island” when their flight from Honolulu descended over the Nevada desert toward the lights of the Las Vegas Strip. They learned the meaning later that morning, when they bumped into a neighbor from their hometown of Kaneohe, which is on Oahu, one of Hawaii’s eight islands. Suddenly, Las Vegas seemed awfully familiar.» —“Vegas Becoming Hawaii’s ‘Ninth Island’” by Ken Ritter in Las Vegas, Nev. AP Nov. 23, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Blessing Box (episode #1613)

Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeways. They’ll say things like take the 405 and get on the 8. Why the definite article...