Washing Machine Charlie
n.— «By the time he was 19, McNerney was the platoon sergeant of a mortar unit assigned to HQ Company in the jungles of Saipan, fighting Japanese soldiers and dodging Japanese bombs. One day, in early July 1944, McNerney didn’t dodge quickly enough. Shrapnel dropped from a “Washing Machine Charlie” (military slang for a small Japanese bomber) ripped open his right knee, tearing through ligaments and cartilage.» —“Purple Heart? Getting wounded is only part of it” by Larry Welborn Orange County Register (California) Jan. 21, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
For rock climbers, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, the word send has taken on a whole new meaning. You might cheer on a fellow snowboarder with Send it, bro! — and being sendy is a really great thing. Plus: a nostalgic trip to Willa...
If you start the phrase when in Rome… but don’t finish the sentence with do as the Romans do, or say birds of a feather… without adding flock together, you’re engaging in anapodoton, a term of rhetoric that refers to the...