Home » Dictionary » sally-port

sally-port

sally-port
 n.— «Directly facing the arena, a pair of massive sanitation trucks and an intricate blockade of barriers line the 33rd Street vehicle checkpoint. They are the type in use at embassies around the world. Their goal is two-fold: to protect the venue from charging vehicles intent on doing damage and to provide a secure holding location to search vehicles authorized for entry into the building. When asked to explain what the large, half-block-long vehicle checkpoint contraption was called, one of New York’s finest replied that he refers to it as a sally-port. “But don’t ask me who Sally is. I never met the person,” he laughed.» —“Security high as event begins” by Thomas Dimopoulos Saratogian (Saratoga, N.Y.) Aug. 31, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

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

Further reading

Going on Buxtehude

Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...

Good Vibrations (episode #1556)

Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...

Recent posts