spray and pray
v. phr.— «Drug companies are not ready to abandon the “spray and pray” random sampling of compounds to find potential new drugs, but excitement is growing about using computers to design tomorrow’s pharmaceuticals in a more rational way.» —“Advances in Drugs, Courtesy of Computers” by Barnaby J. Feder New York Times Aug. 3, 1988. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...