rat line

rat line
 n.— «The Bulgarian secret service, which follows KGB orders without question and which had long-established “rat lines” smuggling spies and arms into Italy and Turkey, was the obvious choice.» —“Did Andropov plot to intimidate Vatican?” by William Safire New York Times Dec. 17, 1982. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

By a Long Shot (episode #1572)

Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...

When Pigs Fly (episode #1571)

Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. Plus, the origin story of the name William, and why it’s Guillermo in Spanish. And a five-year-old poses a question that...