red mushroom
n.— «A preliminary investigation also found that the train’s braking system was not defective and that the operator did not press the “red mushroom”—Muni parlance for the bright red button on the operator’s console that activates an emergency brake. The light-rail vehicles are operated with hand controls.» —“Muni train likely speeding before crash” by Rachel Gordon San Francisco Chronicle (California) June 17, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It’s the...
Janet in Montgomery, Alabama, reports that a day after she had surgery on her hand, the wound burst open, and a doctor noted that her wound dehisced. She’s used to hearing dehisce used in botany to mean the splitting of a plant structure to...