panel beating
n.— «De Villiers and Goosen, according to trial testimony, conducted a blood-oath ceremony pledging secrecy among members of their all-white police riot squad before going into the Craddock township on July 26, 1986, on what white policemen commonly refer to as a “panel beating” expedition. The term, which describes automobile-body repairs, is often used in South Africa in the context of random assaults on blacks by white gangs.» —“Two white South African policemen to hang for murder of black teen” in Johannesburg, South Africa Houston Chronicle May 27, 1988. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It’s a place for finding acceptance, support, and confidence for navigating the larger world. And:, “The High Priestess of...