check the boxes v. phr.— «In lobbying parlance, this is known as “checking the boxes”—meticulously informing powerful congressmen and senators about a transaction they might want to weigh in on down the road. Lobbyists live by...
jackpot baby n.— «Our preseason favorite: Rep. Russell Pearce’s plan to deny birth certificates to kids born to people who entered the country illegally. Guess Russell thinks the rule of immigration law is now far more important than the...
A listener says his sister reprimanded him for using the term “rule of thumb.” She says the expression derives from an old British law that allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick, as long as it’s no wider than his thumb. Is...
tranzie n.— «The “tranzies,” as they’re called, are internationalists, and socialists to boot: their guiding light is the UN, which they believe should rule the world (in a power-sharing arrangement with the NGOs, of course).» —“Vive...
witness mark n.— «With a rule draw out a witness mark from each saw cut on the surfaced side of the line boards and plainly write there-on a brief designation of what line of the building the saw cut is on, as “Brick Line...
gold-plating n.— «And he warned against the practice known as “gold-plating,” whereby national rules are made more complicated than the original proposal from Brussels. “National regulators and governments must be...