tin medal
n.— «You can let your hair grow long, shove your sombrero on to the back of your head, strike your breast close to where you’ve pinned that tin medal you made yourself.» —“Medicine Man Gets Patriotic” Washington Post Oct. 6, 1907. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Aubrey in Waco, Texas, says her mother used to warn the kids against contracting honkus of the bonkus, a fanciful name for a contagious disease. This colloquial term probably comes from the words bonk and konk, meaning “to hit” or...
There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished...