terror-clown
n.— «The car bombs—one parked outside a London nightclub, one near Trafalgar Square and one driven into Glasgow airport—seemed especially incompetent. Lewis Page, a former bomb-disposal officer, suspects the patio-gas canisters crammed into the three vehicles would not have made much of a bang even if they had gone off. The “terror-clowns,” as he calls them, had their second London car bomb towed away by parking wardens; the driver of the Glasgow jeep doused himself in petrol only to be put out again by the fire brigade.» —“Three times lucky” Economist July 5, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mike in Glasgow, Kentucky, wonders about a catchphrase used in British comedies: I go to the foot of the stairs. The Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases (Amazon) compiled by Anna Farkas and several books by catchphrase collector Nigel Rees both point...
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...