non-paper
n.— «It is understood that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had given a non-paper on Kashmir problem to the Indian and Pakistani leaderships when he visited the subcontinent in the first week of February this year. In diplomatic parlance, a “non-paper” is used when a government is conveying a point to other government/governments or state actors while keeping nothing on record.» —“Dixit, Aziz hold secret talks in Delhi” by Rajeev Sharma, Girja Shankar Kaura in New Delhi Tribune (Chandigarh, India) Sept. 10, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
The English language has been greatly enriched by borrowings from the languages of Asia. Barely scratching the surface, we have from Japan skosh, tycoon, tsunami, origami, yen, kimono, futon, and karaoke. From Chinese comes yen, kowtow, gung ho, and...