Scottish cringe
n.— «Over the past week, as it became clear a decision on Megrahi’s future was imminent, many Scottish pundits and opposition politicians were consumed by what is called the Scottish cringe—the idea that some decisions are just too big for bonny wee Scotland and that Scots will inevitably make a mess of them. The handling of the affair has variously been described as a shambles, a mess and an embarrassment with accusations of spin and even deception, courtesy of the Liberal Democrats, chucked in for good measure.» —“ The Scottish cringe factor” by Ewan Crawford Guardian (United Kingdom) Aug. 20, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
One means of hazing newbies in the Army: send them to get a hundred feet of chow line. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Hundred Feet of Chow Line” We had a message from Ernest Pemberton who wanted to tell us about hazing newbies...
A Havertown, Pennsylvania, listener wonders why her mother used to answer queries about how she was doing with phrase that sounded like either fair to midland or fair to middling. Middling has long meant “just OK” or “right in the middle,” and the...