tabletop exercise
n.— «Emergency services, voluntary agencies, utility companies, health authorities, the Environment Agency and the RAF simulated what they would do to help the area recover in the event of a major flood. Exercise Brighid, as it was called, was a “tabletop exercise” based on the scenario of a coastal flood affecting the Taw/Torridge estuary and it focused on Barnstaple and Bideford.» —“Exercise prepares for flood emergency” This is North Devon (Barnstable, England) Nov. 17, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Some research suggests that photos of animals tend to capture the attention of humans more readily than photos of plants. Botanists even have a term for “the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment.” They...
The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or dead, to dinner. Who’s on your guest list and...