Chapter One: The TTC Lost and Found Vocabulary

Vocabulary terms, idioms, and key concepts drawn from Chapter One of the lecture text detailing Duncan's summer job at the Toronto Transit Commission's lost and found.

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)

The public transportation agency operating buses and subways in Toronto, which maintains an underground lost and found office located at Bay subway station.

Bumming around

Spending time idly or wandering aimlessly without formal employment or structured obligations.

Calling in a favor

Requesting assistance or employment from an acquaintance based on past goodwill or an existing reciprocal obligation.

Torch

An informal slang term meaning to intentionally set something on fire or burn it down, as planned for Wayne's Dairy Barn uniform.

Subbasement

A floor or level of a building located entirely beneath the main basement level, fifty feet underground and accessed by a service elevator.

Cataloguing

The systematic process of recording, sorting, and registering incoming lost items recovered from transit buses and subways.

Runner

The specific lost and found job position held by Duncan, responsible for doing the physical searching through the stacks and shelves.

Counter bell signals

Jacob's notification system where one ding calls Duncan to search for an item, two dings means to hurry up, and three dings signals that things get ugly.

Bifocals

Eyeglasses containing lenses with two distinct focal powers, typically configured to correct both near and distant vision.

Expiration date

The date noted on a Post-it marking the completion of an item's three-month holding period before it is boxed up for sale.

YMCA quarterly sale

A sale taking place every three months down at the YMCA where unclaimed lost transit property is boxed up and sold off.

Heaped

Piled high together in an untidy or disorderly mass, as described of dozens of lost umbrellas.

Mascot

A symbolic figure representing an entity; specifically, an artificial leg wearing a worn-down blue Puma running shoe stored in a wall-mounted glass fire axe case.

Lifer

An employee who spends their entire working career in a single job or institution, such as Jacob at the lost and found.

Word jumble

A puzzle containing scrambled letters that must be rearranged into words, featured in the newspaper's Lifestyle section.

Stir-crazy

A state of psychological restlessness or agitation caused by prolonged confinement in a restricted, subterranean environment.

Pondering

Thinking carefully, deeply, or deliberately about something over an extended period.

Spine

The bound outside edge of a book that holds the pages together and typically carries the title and author name.

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)

The public transportation agency operating buses and subways in Toronto, which maintains an underground lost and found office located at Bay subway station.

Bumming around

Spending time idly or wandering aimlessly without formal employment or structured obligations.

Calling in a favor

Requesting assistance or employment from an acquaintance based on past goodwill or an existing reciprocal obligation.

Torch

An informal slang term meaning to intentionally set something on fire or burn it down, as planned for Wayne's Dairy Barn uniform.

Subbasement

A floor or level of a building located entirely beneath the main basement level, fifty feet underground and accessed by a service elevator.

Cataloguing

The systematic process of recording, sorting, and registering incoming lost items recovered from transit buses and subways.

Runner

The specific lost and found job position held by Duncan, responsible for doing the physical searching through the stacks and shelves.

Counter bell signals

Jacob's notification system where one ding calls Duncan to search for an item, two dings means to hurry up, and three dings signals that things get ugly.

Bifocals

Eyeglasses containing lenses with two distinct focal powers, typically configured to correct both near and distant vision.

Expiration date

The date noted on a Post-it marking the completion of an item's three-month holding period before it is boxed up for sale.

YMCA quarterly sale

A sale taking place every three months down at the YMCA where unclaimed lost transit property is boxed up and sold off.

Heaped

Piled high together in an untidy or disorderly mass, as described of dozens of lost umbrellas.

Mascot

A symbolic figure representing an entity; specifically, an artificial leg wearing a worn-down blue Puma running shoe stored in a wall-mounted glass fire axe case.

Lifer

An employee who spends their entire working career in a single job or institution, such as Jacob at the lost and found.

Word jumble

A puzzle containing scrambled letters that must be rearranged into words, featured in the newspaper's Lifestyle section.

Stir-crazy

A state of psychological restlessness or agitation caused by prolonged confinement in a restricted, subterranean environment.

Pondering

Thinking carefully, deeply, or deliberately about something over an extended period.

Spine

The bound outside edge of a book that holds the pages together and typically carries the title and author name.