shorty
n.— «They call it “the lot” or “the pen,” although it is also sarcastically referred to as “the cabby country club” or less charitably as “taxi driver purgatory.” From the air, it is a shimmering yellow blob on an otherwise colorless landscape of tarmac and terminals. Hidden amid the cargo depots at Kennedy International Airport, the four-acre lot contains hundreds of taxis waiting for lucrative fares to Manhattan, the dreaded “shorty” trips to Brooklyn and Queens or the dream rides to New Jersey and Connecticut.…The centralized system also helps to compensate drivers who end up with low-fare trips to nearby neighborhoods, giving them the right to enter a special “shorty” section where they do not have to wait as long for another try at the $45 flat fare to Manhattan.» —“A Talk, a Snack, a Chance at $45 or More” by Andrew Jacobs New York Times Apr. 28, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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...
Book recommendations and the art of apology. Martha and Grant share some good reads, including an opinionated romp through English grammar, a Spanish-language adventure novel, an account of 19th-century dictionary wars, and a gorgeously illustrated...