potato
n.— «In wrestling, there’s a thing called—they’re referred to as potatoes, is when you accidentally hurt somebody for real. And, you know, it—one potato’s OK, two potatoes is crossing the line, and the third one, you usually give what they call a receipt, which is you give one right back.» —“Interview With Bret Hart” by Terry Gross Fresh Air (NPR) Apr. 24, 2000. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
David says that when he was growing up in Akron, Ohio, his family referred to the grassy area between the sidewalk and street as the devil strip. He’s since moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he doesn’t hear that term. There are lots...
In an interview about her magisterial history of the Great Migration, The Warmth of Other Suns (Bookshop|Amazon), Isabel Wilkerson noted that her own writing process poses the same challenge any writer has: “One word followed by another word...