shadow count
n.— «For the second year, New York added a method known as “the shadow count,” developed by Dr. Kim Hopper, a medical anthropologist at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, N.Y. Each year, hundreds of students pose as “decoy” homeless and occupy assigned locations around the city. The percentage of decoys discovered helps to clarify how effective the street count has been.» —“ounting Them In” by Ben Fleming Resident (New York City) Feb. 20, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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...
A young caller from the Hudson Valley of New York wonders about his grandmother’s use of stemwinder to praise a speech she thought was excellent. In the early 1800s, people used pocket watches that had to be wound with a tiny key. Once someone...