Rummy’s Dummies n. a derogatory name for the U.S. military under the leadership of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Editorial Note: “Rummy” is a nickname for Mr. Rumsfeld. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Loretta in Shreveport, Louisiana, wants to know what lexical and dialectal clues linguists look for when guessing where someone is from. She also wonders: Do people with long careers in the military or who grew up in a military family have a...
A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, though, suffrage isn’t about “suffering.” It’s from a Latin word that involves voting. Plus: military cadences often include...