trillion
n.— «NBA TRILLIONAIRES: When an end-of-the-bench guy gets in a blowout for a minute, and doesn’t record a shot, rebound, assist or point, his boxscore line is known as “one trillion,” a one followed by nine zeroes. Imagine how it looked to Chicago’s Chris Duhon when he recorded an unheard of 10 trillion against the Utah Jazz. Yep, 10 minutes of nothing. No shots, no fouls, no rebounds, no assists, nada. Of course, Duhon’s shooting 39 per cent from the field and had made just two of his last 30 shots so maybe it’s not surprising. What else isn’t surprising is that he’s been replaced in the rotation by rookie Thabo Sefolosha.» —“All-star voters snub Nash” by Doug Smith The Star (Toronto, Canada) June 26, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A firefighter named Steve in Newport News, Virginia, wonders why in his line of work, and for some police, certain additional kinds of days off after long unbroken shifts are called Kelly days, Kelly shifts, or Kelly time. The term most likely comes...
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...