tin medal
n.— «For some kind of tin medal for having made the least valuable contribution toward solving the strike situation in defense industries, we nominate those gentlemen who rose in the Senate and House and shrieked for “the electric chair” and “treason charges punishable by 25 years’ imprisonment” for strikers.» —“Plain Good Sense Will Pull Us Through” Clearfield Progress (Pa.) Apr. 8, 1941. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous kidnapping case, using the...
In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It’s the...