spray and pray
v. phr.— «A clerk at the Outdoorsman, Route 12, in West Boylston, said the gun has an effective range of only about 40 yards. “It’s basically spray and pray that you hit something,” he said. “I see no use for them really.”» —“Assault rifles hot item in face of ban” by Walter H. Crockett Jr. Sunday Telegram (Worcester, Massachusetts) Mar. 19, 1989. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
The term skycap for workers who help with luggage at an airport was coined by analogy with redcap, a term for porters on trains who wore red caps. Skycap was the winning entry in a contest. Another contest, held in 1923, gave us the word scofflaw, a...