paper airplane
n.— «The jetliner makers are just “throwing paper airplanes at each other,” Wolfgang H. Demisch, aerospace analyst at Morgan Stanley, said last week. He suggested that none of the proposed aircraft may reach the market because “the airlines currently have difficulty getting two nickels to rub together.”» —“Jostling To Power Up The Next Jets” by Eric Pace New York Times July 19, 1981. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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A young caller from the Hudson Valley of New York wonders about his grandmother’s use of stemwinder to praise a speech she thought was excellent. In the early 1800s, people used pocket watches that had to be wound with a tiny key. Once someone...