tar-tar
n.— Note: “Toi toi” is a type of grass native to New Zealand, as described here, although there is at least one species of bird native to the country, the North Island tomtit, that is of the subspecies “toitoi.” «“Her father, pretending to be the girl, wrote back to him and said meet me at midnight. Poor old Mr Golder got all dressed up and went to meet his beau but as the paper described it “the arms that beheld him were not those of his beloved.” He copped a tar-tar as it was known in those days.”A tar-tar was a uniquely New Zealand version of tarring and feathering, with toi tois in place of feathers.» —“19th-century paper offers window on another time” by Matthew Stewart Wairarapa Times (New Zealand) Oct. 16, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
“What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?” Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children’s joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explanation for the difference between...
The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop. A medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you’re close to another dimension of space and time. There’s a term for such locales: thin places. And: did you ever go...