shrink
n.— «My second and last 2 carat ring was stolen. The guy was “looking” at it and turned around and bolted out the door with it. LOVELY! That’s close to $13,000.00 worth of shrink (Wal-Mart slang for merchandise that we can’t account for) just in three rings that I know of. At Wal-Mart over 70% of our shrink is due to paperwork issues, not theft like most people think.» —“I’m still standing” by Michaela Wherever I went…I was running! May 14, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous kidnapping case, using the...
Tracy in Beaufort, North Carolina, says her grandmother, aunts, and uncles used to try to calm down an upset or bossy person with Well, don’t get astorperious! You might debubiate! In the work of Zora Neale Hurston and in Harlem Renaissance...