Mary Lou is a former newspaper reporter in Memphis, Tennessee. One of her editors used to say he was off to the salt mines, meaning he was headed to do some challenging work. That expression is a reference to the grim practice of sending prisoners...
This week, it’s the language of politics. Martha and Grant discuss two handy terms describing politicians: far center and snollygoster. Also, a presidential word puzzle, false friends, spendthrifts, and a long list of 17th-century insults. So...
Pommy is an often derogatory nickname used by Australians for the English. Does it come from an acronym for either “Prisoner of Mother England” or “Prisoner of Her Majesty”? The more likely story has to do with sunburn and...
joint rag n.— «Magazines produced by prisoners are called “joint rags.”» —“A convict’s look at life on the inside” in Carleton University Carleton Newsroom (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) July 21, 2009...
in the bag other.— «After a year training at Burnham Military Camp and in Egypt, he found himself in Crete and “in the bag,” as they called it, a prisoner of war on a bitter journey to the “hell camp” in Germany...
mack n.— «Mr. Levine and his client were prisoners in California’s Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex. Like other federal inmates around the country, they found a can of mackerel—the “mack” in prison lingo—was the standard...
