suicide gown

suicide gown
 n.— «Across the way, about a dozen inmates are engaged in a “socialization” exercise. Some participants are chained to benches—”for civilian workers” safety,” as Hong explains it. Others sit listlessly at tables, in long draping ponchos that deputies refer to as “suicide gowns.”» —“Inside The Nation’s Largest Mental Institution” by Renee Montagne NPR: Morning Edition Aug. 14, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

Tribble Trouble (episode #1564)

In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It’s the...

Your Mother Wears Combat Boots

The expressions your mother wears combat boots and your mother wears army boots descend from the African-American tradition of the Dozens, also known as sounding or capping or snapping, where people try to top each other’s insults. This is...