wig-wag

wig-wag n. a rapidly alternating or strobing warning light. Also attributive. Editorial Note: Often plural, since the lights are rarely used singly. Semaphore flags have long been called “wig-wags” in the Navy, Marines, and other military and paramilitary organizations. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Can You Have Four Corn?

The owner of a Berlin, Maryland, produce stand wants to know: When a customer is buying four ears of corn, should they say I have four corn or I have four ears of corn? Corn is a mass noun that can also be counted as a plural, just as we might say I...

Forty-Eleven Zillion (episode #1579)

When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO β€” “you’re on your own” β€” or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator...

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