swapping paint
n.— «Swapping paint, the fabled euphemism for banging a car out of the way in order to pass it, is an established part of Nascar racing. But not all paint swapping is the same. “A bump-and-run is different from simply crashing into somebody,” explains Wallace. “The idea is to get up behind the car as it enters a corner—this is when it’s most unstable. You give him a tap so he has to go up the track one lane. This is fine. Simply crashing into his rear—that’s unacceptable.”» —“Racing the Chase” by Robert Weintraub, Rusty Wallace New York Times Oct. 29, 2006. (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...