As we’ve previously discussed, firefighters don and doff their equipment, terms deriving from do on and do off. They are also said to dout a fire, meaning they “extinguish” it, dout being a similar shortening of do out. This is...
A recent fire in Grant’s apartment building has him pondering the role played by fire in English idioms. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Language of Fires” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m...
job blocker n.— «It’s no wonder that many tattooists themselves refer to them as “job blockers.” How can you take seriously anyone who has a fire-breathing winged serpent / the names of their three kids in sanskrit / the logo of a...
heli-mulching n.— «Rice straw dropped from a heavy-lift helicopter rained down like snow Monday on fire-blackened forest land north of Oroville in an effort to control erosion. The process, known as “heli-mulching,” is set to continue...
no duff other.— «L/Cpl Steven Jones, 25—an Army passenger on the plane—yelled, “No duff, no duff, we are on fire, we are on fire,” before communication was lost. “No duff” is a military term used to indicate a real emergency instead of a...
surface snorting n.— «Scores of Sydneysiders woke to the sight of thick white smoke coming from a Collins-class submarine off Sydney’s northern beaches this morning, but their fears of a fire were unfounded—it was just the ageing sub’s...