tin medal
n.— «If it doesn’t win today’s game with Czechoslovakia, it will finish fourth. For that, there’s not even a tin medal.» —“Sour Whine Even Stains Bronze Bid” by Dave Anderson New York Times Feb. 22, 1992. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm...
Sigrin writes from Albany, New York, that she misheard our earlier conversation about the expression shaving yak hair meaning “performing a monotonous, tedious task.” At first she thought we said shaving gnat hair, which she figures is...