Alex from Columbia, Missouri, wonders about rank and file, meaning “the members of the body of an organization as opposed to its leaders.” In 12th-century France, the words renc or ranc referred to a row of soldiers. The word file means...
Do Americans use the same sign language as the British? And what do Japanese people use instead of umm? Plus, why do we vote at polling places? What goes into file 13? All this, a word quiz, commode vs. toilet, saditty and bougie, and cute stuff...
File 13 is slang for a wastebasket, the place for paperwork nobody intends to process. Maria in Indianapolis hears it around her office, but the expression is older than recent office banter. It starts showing up in the early 1940s as World War II...