on the sick
adj.— «The growing number of people allegedly unable to work due to illness is strange, because the health of the population has continued to improve. But in truth, no one now expects what are known as sick certificates to indicate actual illnesses: when I ask my patients why they are “on the sick,” as they call it, the only explanation they can give is that they receive a sick certificate. And when asked why they receive a sick certificate, they reply, “Because I’m on the sick.”» —“Britain’s Sham Unemployment Drop” by Theodore Dalrymple City Journal Jan. 28, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...