︎oil spot strategy n. a tactic in which a political or military organization secures an area to be used as a launch site for campaigns to other areas. Also oil spot theory. Editorial Note: Also known as the ink blot strategy. The French version of oil spot strategy, tache d’huile, was used in Indochina prior to 1895 by Joseph-Simon Gallieni, according to The French Overseas Empire (2000, Praeger Publishers) by Frederick Quinn. The French term was also used in English at least as far back as 1864 in a more general political context as a metaphor for something that spreads. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Emily in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is married to a native Dutch speaker, who points out that they buy groceries in a store, so why doesn’t grocery denote just one of those items and not the store where they’re sold? Originally, the French...
A Francophone who’s feeling low might say so with J’ai le moral dans les chaussettes. The idiom avoir le moral dans les chaussettes means “to have morale in your socks.” This is part of a complete episode.
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