three plastic animals rule n. the legal determination that secular symbols in a government-sponsored year-end seasonal display (such as a Nativity scene) can mark it as not endorsing a specific religion or religion in general. Editorial Note: Two relevant Supreme Court cases are Lynch v. Donnelly (1984) and County of Allegheny v. ACLU (1989). Generally, such cases are related to maintaining the separation of Church and State. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...