tango uniform
n.— «It comes with a standard V-6 engine, a new unibody chassis and independent rear suspension, and a seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty in case all goes, as they say in the military, tango uniform.» —“Not grand, but good” by Dan Neil Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) Apr. 8, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and distribute used dictionaries to help inmates with...
Grant recommends the children’s book Dreams of Green: A Three Kings’ Day Story written by Mariel Jungkunz and illustrated by Mónica Paola Rodriguez (Bookshop|Amazon), about a girl and her family who move from Puerto Rico to Ohio and find ways...
“Tango” and “Uniform” are the military radio codewords for letters “T” and “U.” The expression is short for T.U., which itself is short for “tits up,” or non-functioning, deceased.
Yes, that’s what my research found, too. However, no dictionary I have includes the expression so it was worth recording here.
The more formal “toes up” is also cited and will never offend those who oppose “taudry” terms like “tits”.
The roots of this go back to the gyroscope in an airplane. Your artificial horizon can only show so much pitch, yaw, roll. When the gyroscope is at the end of its string, the ^^ symbol is shown. This is there the “tits up” comes from. If you are flying so badly that the ^^ symbol is shown, you are in REAL trouble! Take a look at the gyro markings. This goes back 50+ years…