Especially when the cops ARE the burglars in the first place.

Thanks - I didn't know about that context. That's fucked up, and definitely a dogwhistle.

I mean, I'm not sure I'd call it a "dogwhistle". American independence is usually seen as a good thing, even if it is currently being co-opted by Trump for his bullshit.

The US declared independence in 1776. It's an important symbolic number for the country.

It may be because a large enough load could quickly block the driver's left-side mirror.

Oooh, another thing is that a heavy enough load may imbalance the vehicle enough to make it unsafe on turns.

Anyone see anything else?

Unfortunately velma is both very active and very serious.

Me, but for zombies.

Fun fact: "meat" ("mete") originally just meant "food" in Old English, and included the "animal fodder" sense.

What we would call meat was originally "flesh-meat" until around 1300, when the modern meaning of "animal flesh food" took over the majority of the usage of the word.

However, when words shift in meaning over time, it's common for the original sense of the word to hang around in compound words. So, "sweetmeat" still retains this older meaning: "sweet food > candy".

Thanks so much for this comment! I'll definitely try All the Pretty Horses before I make up my mind!