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
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...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...