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
A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what’s the flash part of that word about? Also, if you’re a nervous Nellie, you’re skittish and indecisive—both characteristics of an American politician who earned that nickname in the...
Sigrin writes from Albany, New York, that she misheard our earlier conversation about the expression shaving yak hair meaning “performing a monotonous, tedious task.” At first she thought we said shaving gnat hair, which she figures is...