tenderloin (TEN-duhr-loin) noun

   The part of a city notorious for vice and corruption.

[After a district in New York City known for vice, crime, corruption,
extortion, graft, etc. It received its nickname from the choicest part
of the meat, alluding to the luxurious diet of corrupt police members
getting an easy income from bribes.]

Today, there are Tenderloin districts in other cities, particularly in
San Francisco. Another metaphorical term with a similar connotation is
"skid row" which has its origin in Seattle.

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=tenderloin

  "Forbidden from working, they moved in to a seedy residential hotel in
   the Tenderloin district as they waited for their application to be
   approved."
   Joe Mullin; Refugees' Work; The Mercury News (San Jose, California);
   Jul 10, 2005.

This week's theme: metaphorical terms having origins in New York.

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-Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/tenderloin.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/tenderloin.ram

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