ceiling method
n.— «How does anyone administratively know how many hectares would be the right size? The only way one can arrive at such a figure is through a sophisticated technique known as the ceiling method, which means you look at the ceiling and conjure up a figure. The actual figure is best left to commercial considerations of the developer, bearing in mind economies (and diseconomies) of scale and scope.» —“Swinging socialist ’60s” by Bibek Debroy Indian Express (New Delhi, India) Apr. 6, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Shuba in Sammamish, Washington, grew up in India, where she heard speakers of Indian English refer to an eggplant as a brinjal. She assumed that this was a British English term, but later realized that in Britain, this vegetable is called an...
A book of photographs and essays by famous writers celebrates libraries — and the librarians who changed their lives. Plus cutting doughnuts, spinning cookies, and pulling brodies: There are lots of ways to talk about spinning a car in circles on...