pen
n.— «They call it “the lot” or “the pen,” although it is also sarcastically referred to as “the cabby country club” or less charitably as “taxi driver purgatory.” From the air, it is a shimmering yellow blob on an otherwise colorless landscape of tarmac and terminals. Hidden amid the cargo depots at Kennedy International Airport, the four-acre lot contains hundreds of taxis waiting for lucrative fares to Manhattan, the dreaded “shorty” trips to Brooklyn and Queens or the dream rides to New Jersey and Connecticut.» —“A Talk, a Snack, a Chance at $45 or More” by Andrew Jacobs New York Times Apr. 28, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...
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...