security theater n. highly visible but ineffective anti-terrorism or other protection and precaution measures. Editorial Note: A security theater is also a geopolitical area of military operations (a theater of operations) or a local area, such as in a company or home, under protection and surveillance. This term was popularized by, if not coined by, Bruce Schneier. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The slang phrase someone ate and left no crumbs means the person did something really well. In a previous call, a listener who works in theater noted the use of ate to mean “did something well,” as in they really ate that haircut! This...
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...