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)
Further reading
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...