cotton curtain
n.— «Cotton Curtain. Five thousand miles apart, two men speaking different languages were last week discussing “free voting.” Said one: “I will arrest any man who is against us…on election day….” Said the other: “Let a handful vote this year and two handfuls will vote next year. You will be justified in going to any extreme on election day…to keep them from voting.” The first man was Colonel Moczar, chief of Security Police of Communist-run Lodz in Poland. He was trying to keep followers of the Polish Peasant Party’s Stanislaw Mikolajczyk from voting (see FOREIGN NEWS). The second was Theodore C. (“The Man”) Bilbo, inciting fellow Mississippians to “take care of” any Negroes who might want to vote in his state’s primaries.» —“Cotton Curtain” Time July 8, 1946. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Navel-Gazing (episode #1549) 06/29/2020: In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city's youngest readers,... [more]
Yak Shaving (episode #1548) 06/08/2020: There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin.... [more]
Cabin Fever (episode #1547) 04/21/2020: The adjectives canine and feline refer to dogs and cats. But how does English address other groups of animals? Plus, cabin fever has been around... [more]
Singing Sand (episode #1546) 04/06/2020: Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means "money." In the same way, cat beer... [more]
Baby's Breath (episode #1545) 03/23/2020: Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There's a word for that: googleganger. Plus,... [more]
You must log in to post a comment.