plane people
n.pl.— «Currently, about 2,500 of these Vietnamese “plane people” are leaving each month under the program, refugee officials said. “This number is roughly equal to the total monthly arrivals in the region by boat people.”» —“Fewer ‘Boat People,’ Says U.N. Official Vietnam Refugees Effort ‘a Success’” by William Branigin in Bangkok, Thailand Washington Post Sept. 8, 1984. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...