security theater
n.— «The secrecy culture cultivated by TSA demands an extensive deference which (as Barlow’s attorney pointed out) is often supposedly justified by saying “September 11, September 11, September 11.” But in fact many aspects of aviation security practice are still stupid and pointless, or, to be more polite and precise, they are security theater.» —“In the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo” by Seth David Schoen Vitanuova Dec. 16, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
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...