packing for Perth
n.— «The onslaught of unsettling news has proved too much for some with the means to flee. No reliable numbers are kept on emigration, but “packing for Perth”—a phrase used to describe white flight, not necessarily to the Australian city—is believed to be on the increase.» —“Post-Apartheid South Africa Enters Anxious Era” in Diepsloot, South Africa New York Times Oct. 6, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Diane, a bridge player from Wilmington, North Carolina, asks about sitting with the bathtub, a phrase her friend uses for a lopsided game where one pair keeps getting the good cards. The phrase appears in newspaper columns about bridge starting in...
What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originating in Asia—the tomatoes came only later! Plus, a new book shows what’s lost when a language dies: when there...