sin tax

A sin tax is a tax beyond normal sales tax on certain items that are thought to be harmful. The most common example is the tax on tobacco. The tax on gasoline and inefficient/polluting motor vehicles is another example. Sin taxes exist to drive up the cost of and therefore reduce the use of harmful products such as gasoline and tobacco.

The new sin tax on tobacco is forcing some people to quit.

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fry an egg on the sidewalk

To say that one could fry an egg on the sidewalk means it's very hot outside. It is actually possible to fry an egg on the sidewalk with the help of mirrors or a solar concentrator. This is often done in developing countries.

It's so hot outside that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk.

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tirequills

The small rubber protrusions found on new tires.

I could tell my friend had new tires because they still had their tirequills.

run off

To make a photocopy of something

Can you run off a couple of copies of that worksheet?

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the f dash dash dash word

The word fuck, as used in A Christmas Story.

Oh fudge! Only I didn't say fudge. I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the f dash dash dash word.

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metalpecker

Woodpecker that pecks on metal objects, especially chimney caps.

The metalpecker woke me up this morning.

reverse plumbing

When the hot pipe is connected to the cold side of a sink or shower and the cold pipe is connected to the hot side, making it so when you turn the hot knob you get cold water and when you turn the cold knob you get hot water.

I had the hot water knob on for five minutes and it still didn't warm up. It was then that I realized that the sink had reverse plumbing.

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