The expression to run the traps means “to perform due diligence” or “solicit a wide variety of opinions” or “investigate every angle thoroughly.” This metaphor derives from the literal sense of running the traps, which refers to hunting and fishing...
As noted in Francis Grose’s A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (Bookshop|Amazon), the term red rag, also redrag, is an old slang term for “the tongue,” as in the quotation he cites with a variant spelling of potato: Shut...
A restaurant manager in Kokomo, Indiana, had an employee who failed to show up for work. This left him wondering about the phrase left in the lurch. It probably derives from an old game similar to backgammon called lourche, the object of which is to...
Shut your piehole! means “Shut your mouth!” Need more slang terms for the mouth? For starters, there’s potato trap, tater trap, tatty trap, bun trap, gingerbread trap, kissing trap, fly trap, rattle trap, baconhole, and cakehole...
BOGO n.— Note: Also abbreviated as “BOGOF.” «I was proud that she had grasped the dangers of Buy-One/Get-One (BOGO) free purchases.» —“BOGO Trap: Buy Eight, Get One Free? I Don’t Think So” by Sharon Harvey...
core-core index n.— «If we look at what is known as the “core-core” index (which strips out both energy and fresh food) then we can see that it is far from clear that Japan ever really escaped from the deflation trap, since...
