1. pace — [Latin] “in peace”, with no offense intended to, with apologies to
Certainly we can all be grateful to Max Brod (pace Kafka’s own wishes in the matter) that he did not cast these writings into the fire.
2. Monel (also Monel metal) — alloy of nickel and copper
But its strength at high temperatures led to the use of Monel in both the frame and the skin of the hypersonic X-15.
3. Keeley Cure — supposed cure for alcoholism of the Keeley Institute at the cusp of the 20th Century, primarily consisting of injections of auric chloride
Of course it made sense that these shots of gold worked to counteract the shots of whiskey I’d been drinking, and I had every hope that the Keeley Cure would work for me as it had worked for thousands of other poor (in a moral sense) unfortunates.
4. MOT — [British] Ministry of Transport (now the Department of Transport) test of a vehicle’s safety and roadworthiness
“We both know this car isn’t going to pass its MOT, don’t we, even without that broken taillight?”
5. out at elbows (also out at elbow) — poorly dressed, shabby; needy, poor
The only inhabitant of the shop was a crabbed, out at elbows fellow who at first I mistook for an indigent seller of trifles hoping to interest the owner in some oddments he wished to sell, so I was surprised to learn that he was the owner of the bric-a-brac shop, with all its trifles, oddments, and whatnot.
6. typewriter — [slang] submachine gun (esp. a Thompson submachine gun)
Once again I had to duck as typewriter bullets flew overhead; at least I wasn’t standing calf-deep in mud this time.
7. all my eye and Betty Martin — [idiom] balderdash, nonsense
“He said that?!? What all my eye and Betty Martin! And you believed him!?! Saints preserve us!”
8. stap me vitals (also stap my vitals, or in abbreviated form as stap me) — [slang] exclamation of anger or surprise
“Well, stap me vitals if you don’t show up when you’re least wanted, Teddy!”
9. on the tapis (also upon the tapis) — [idiom] under consideration, up for discussion
The last thing on the tapis was the same old nonsense about the Founder’s Fountain, only under a new guise and disguised as a patriotic means of showing our support for the troops.
10. brass neck — [UK idiom] shamelessness, gall; person with this quality
I don’t mind being told that AI will provide cost savings and more efficiency, just don’t have the brass neck to tell me that those benefits are for the customer, rather than for the penny-pinching executives in their glass-walled offices.
Bonus Vocabulary
(military slang, originally from ANZAC troops)
chocolate soldier — soldier who never sees combat; one unwilling to fight
He was too yellow even for the quartermaster corps, too much a chocolate soldier to face up even to harsh words or forms in triplicate.