elephant cage
n.— «On base is a maze of wire and steel rods laid out over an area larger than a football field. Local people call it “the elephant cage.” It houses one of the most important intelligence-gathering operations the U.S. military is conducting in the Indochina war.» —“GIs at a Secret Base—Plenty of Time to Worry” by Michael Morrow in Ramasun, Northeastern Thailand Washington Post, Times Herald Sept. 14, 1972. (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...
The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop. A medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you’re close to another dimension of space and time. There’s a term for such locales: thin places. And: did you ever go...