wig-wag
n.— «On occasion, Bottini hit the red wig-wag lights behind the grille and pulled a motorist over.» —“Special Squad Fights Auto Thefts” by Andre Jackson St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Mo.) Jan. 7, 1988. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...
Silence comes in many forms. Writer Paul Goodman says there is, for example, the noisy silence of “resentment and self-recrimination,” and the helpful, participatory silence of actively listening to someone speak. • The strange story...