double-back
v.— «“I think the antiquated system we have had of ‘doubling back’ should have been replaced long ago.”…The former double-back arrangement meant that every other day, an officer who finishes an eight-hour shift at 8 a.m. goes back to work at 4 p.m. for eight more hours.…Gone will be the old double-back system for the night platoon, which meant working 16 out of 24 hours every other day. With court appearances and second jobs, sleep became rare for some officers.» —“New Pact Should Result In Better Police Morale Tiring ‘Double-Back’ System Removed” by Michael Beebe Buffalo News (New York) Apr. 23, 1993. (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...
Carl in Sebastopol, California, was reminded of his childhood on New York’s Lower East Side while ready Harry Golden’s book For 2 Cents Plain (Amazon), the title referring to how customers ordered a plain glass of seltzer. For a little...