leverite
n.— «Bartolotta demonstrated his panning technique by shaking a plastic container resembling a Chinese wok. He explained that by moving the pan, the lighter material is suspended in the soupy water of the stream bottom “so that heavier material such as gold sinks to the bottom.” “See that’s leverite,” he said, pointing to a tiny, nondescript stone in the pan. “Leave-‘er-right there because she ain’t worth nothing,” he said with a laugh.» —“The Spirit Of The Klondike Lives On The Sourdoughs Of Today Are Willing To Settle For A Speck, A Fleck Or A Flake” by George Foster Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, Washington) July 14, 1997. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...
Ribbon fall. Gallery forest. You won’t find terms like these in most dictionaries, but they and hundreds like them are discussed by famous writers in the book Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape. The book is an intriguing collection...