pea soup
n.— «Pea soup. An expression meaning the boss is coming.» —“Metallic Lathers’ Slang and Jargon” by Metallic Lathers’ Union of New York and vicinity, Local 46 of the Wood, Wire and Metal Lathers International Union Lexicon of Trade Jargon , 1938-39. (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...
How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A...