A restaurant manager in Kokomo, Indiana, had an employee who failed to show up for work. This left him wondering about the phrase left in the lurch. It probably derives from an old game similar to backgammon called lourche, the object of which is to...
The language and melodies of military marching songs connect grown children with their parents who served, as do parents’ love letters from World War II. Plus, “running a sandy” describes an awkward love triangle and Northern Spy...
The manager of a cider mill in Rochester, Minnesota, is curious about the name of the variety of apple known as Northern Spy. The origins of its name are murky, but it was likely popularized by the 1830 novel Northern Spy, about a wily abolitionist...
rollup n.— «Patrick Neil, a division manager for Ventura County’s probation department, would not comment on why Avary was removed from the furlough program. “Any causes behind a rollup is not something we can discuss,” Neil...
boss-nap v.— «Boss-napping—as it is now known—is becoming increasingly common in France, against the fraught backdrop of economic crisis. The chief executive and director of human resources of Sony France were both held hostage by...
scope dope n.— «So what exactly is an air battle manager? The term is new, when I was first in the radar business the title was air weapons controller (sometimes referred to as “scope dope”).» —“Ground TACS (mobile...
