skittle
n.— «Our guys usually dump 200 rounds of “Skittles” onto the target. I did not know what Skittles were for a long time. Back in Hawaii, I came upon two crew chiefs arguing loudly. One of them was very upset about the other guy giving away his Skittles.…AP-I’s machine gun rounds are pieces of ultra-dense tungsten, wrapped in a substance that burns/explodes upon contacting the target. They are referred to as “Skittles” because the tips are painted purple, green, red, or yellow, depending on when they were manufactured. “Skittles,” when fired at night, make beautiful showers of burning metal upon contact with the target. At night, they are a beautiful sight. They were rare, if not impossible to find in Hawaii. In Iraq, they are abundant.» —“Adjusting To Day Shift Is Purgatory” by Hunter Haskins The Ledger (Lakeland, Florida) June 24, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a foreign language. And third, find out what you truly believe, because if you’re not writing from...
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...